P. B. Molesworth

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P. B. Molesworth

(lunar scientist)

A military engineer by professional and amateur astronomer by avocation, Percy Braybrooke Molesworth was one of the most skilled and accurate visual observers of the Moon and planets during the late 19th century.

Birth

April 2, 1867, Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

Death

December 25, 1908, Trincomali, Ceylon

Education

  • Winchester College, England
  • Royal Military Academies, Woolwich and Chatham


Images

Portrait

Career

The son of a noted civil engineer, Molesworth was himself a commissioned officer in th British Corps of Royal Engineers, passing through the ranks of Lieutenant, Captain and Major, stationed in Ireland, Hong Kong and finally in Ceylon, where he had an equatorially-mounted 12-3/4 inch Calver reflector (see illustrations in McKim, 1997 and Baum, 2007). An avid planetary observer, he was a member of the BAA from its inception in 1890 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on June 10, 1898. 

Lunar Contributions


Publications


LPOD

Hundred Year Old Hevel

Biographical Resources


Web Links