Post by Paulie pchris00 on Jun 13, 2012 21:03:55 GMT -6
So...
I've been reading Chasing Venus by Andrea Wulf, and have learned a few things about some of the astronomers that observed the 1761 Transit of Venus.
Alexandre-Gui Pingre once said, "liquor gives us the necessary strength to measure the distance between the Sun and the Moon."
Nevil Maskelyne, a man of the clergy, had, according to Wulf, "received a suitable liquor allowance- the bill for wine and spirits accounted for almost one-quarter of the entire budget for the expedition... Maskelyne traveled with more than 100gallons of wine and rum as well as five gallons of spirits and over seventy bottles of claret. It was, he noted, 'a very agreeable voyage.'"
Apparently the key to astronomical success is alcohol, and lots of it...
I've been reading Chasing Venus by Andrea Wulf, and have learned a few things about some of the astronomers that observed the 1761 Transit of Venus.
Alexandre-Gui Pingre once said, "liquor gives us the necessary strength to measure the distance between the Sun and the Moon."
Nevil Maskelyne, a man of the clergy, had, according to Wulf, "received a suitable liquor allowance- the bill for wine and spirits accounted for almost one-quarter of the entire budget for the expedition... Maskelyne traveled with more than 100gallons of wine and rum as well as five gallons of spirits and over seventy bottles of claret. It was, he noted, 'a very agreeable voyage.'"
Apparently the key to astronomical success is alcohol, and lots of it...
