On This Day In History: Sir Thomas Brisbane, Astronomer, Soldier And Governor Was Born – On July 23, 1773

AncientPages.com - On July 23, 1773, Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane was born near Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland.

He was a British soldier and astronomical observer for whom the city of Brisbane, Australia, is named. He first decided to master astronomy in 1795, when a navigational error almost resulted in a shipwreck on his first voyage to the West Indies.

Sir Thomas Brisbane and Brisbane Planetarium

He was also Governor of NSW (1821-25).  He systematized the convict system's administration, hiring convicts to settlers for clearing land.
Brisbane, who built Australia's first observatory, was a keen astronomer who encouraged scientific and agricultural training.

He also reformed the currency and abolished censorship of the press.

He is mainly remembered as a patron of science. He built an astronomical observatory at Parramatta, Australia.

He made the first extensive astronomical observations of the southern stars since Lacaille (1751-52) and built a combined observatory and magnetic station at Makerstoun, Roxburghshire, Scotland.

Brisbane was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828 and was elected president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1833.

He was made a baronet in 1836 and attained the rank of general in 1841. Brisbane died in 1860.

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