Image: Harriot at Syon Park
Description: Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) and his friend Christopher Tooke set about drawing the moon from a rooftop in Syon Park, Middlesex, England, on 26th July 1609, in order to map the moon. For four centuries it was thought Galileo was the first to do this but documents found in the Public Records Office at Chichester, W. Sussex, England, show it was actually Thomas Harriot. There is no authenticated contemporary portrait of Thomas Harriot to date (2009) and it may well be none were ever painted of him. He did have a house in Syon Park (now pulled down), adjacent to Syon House. He is thought to have used his telescope from the rooftop of his house to make the maps. The picture made its debut at Telescope400 – Thomas Harriot Day, at Syon Park, Mddx on 26th July 2009. This was the 400th anniversary of Harriot's first drawing of the moon using a telescope.
Title: Harriot at Syon Park
Credit: The original is an oil painting on board by Rita Greer, history painter, 2009. This was digitized by Rita and sent via email to the Department of Engineering Science, Oxford University, where it was subsequently uploaded to Wikimedia.
Author: Rita Greer
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Usage Terms: Free Art License
License: FAL
License Link: http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en
Attribution Required?: Yes
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