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William Petrie (1784–1816) was an Officer of the East India Company in Chennai (formerly Madras) during the 1780s. Petrie set up a private observatory in his residence located in Egmore, Chennai, India. The main aim of the observatory was ''"to provide navigational assistance to the company ships and help determine the longitudes by observing the eclipses of Moon and satellites of Jupiter"''. He gave the observatory to the East India Company and the first modern astronomical observatory outside Europe was born. It was named as the Madras Observatory and was located in Nungambakkam . Michael Topping (1747–96) was appointed as the astronomer of this observatory by the Company. The Madras Observatory later evolved into Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Petrie was a Member of Council in Madras in the 1790s, and acted for three months as Governor of Madras in 1807. He was appointed Governor of Prince of Wales Island (Penang Island) in 1809, and died there.〔Buckland, C. E., ''Dictionary of Indian biography'', 1906〕 He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in November 1795.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Library and Archive Catalog )〕 ==Career== The chronology of his advancement through the Honorable the East India Company is as follows:〔Prinsep, Charles Campbell (1885) Record of services of the Honourable East India Company's civil servants in the Madras presidency, from 1741 to 1858. London. Trübner. Page 113〕 * 1765 - Writer * 1771 - Factor * 1774 - Junior Merchant * 1776 - Senior Merchant; At Home * 1778 - In India * 1782 - At Home * 1790 - Member of the Council of the Governor * 1793 - At Home * 1800 - President of the Board of Revenue, and Member of the Council of the Governor * 1809 - Appointed Governor of the Prince of Wales Island * Died 27 October 1816, at Prince of Wales Island. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Petrie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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