Sir Charles Todd

[astroron]

As I was going through some photo's of my trip up to North Queensland and the Northern Territory in 2008 I began pondering whereabouts the Memorial to Sir Charles Todd was as many will well know It can be a long time between drinks on the Stuart Highway, so as you do I googeled it and this is what I came across, which I didn't know, that Sir Charles Todd was an Astronomer:)
On these LLooong Drives you see something of interest, you stop, read what it says , take some pictures then of you go for another few hours till the next place of interest:D

Nearest Centre North: Katherine (http://www.exploroz.com/Places/26616/NT/Katherine.aspx) 344km
Nearest Centre South: Tennant Creek (http://www.exploroz.com/Places/27258/NT/Tennant_Creek.aspx) 326km
Nearest stop North: Alexander Forrest Memorial (http://www.exploroz.com/Places/80664/NT/Alexander_Forrest_Memorial.aspx) 125km
Nearest stop South: Newcastle Waters (http://www.exploroz.com/Places/27167/NT/Newcastle_Waters.aspx) 52km
TODD, Sir CHARLES (1826-1910), astronomer, meteorologist and electrical engineer, was born on 7 July 1826 at Islington, London, second son of Griffith (http://www.exploroz.com/Places/20182/NSW/Griffith.aspx) Todd, grocer and tea merchant of Greenwich. Educated locally he was appointed to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, as a supernumerary computer in 1841; he showed ability in mathematics and potential as an observer. As junior assistant to Professor Challis at the Cambridge university observatory in 1848-54 he assisted in the determination of longitude between the Cambridge and Greenwich observatories by telegraphic means. Early in 1854 he returned to Greenwich as superintendent of the galvanic apparatus for the transmission of time signals. This involved close co-operation with the Electric Telegraph Co., and also with C. V. Walker, electrical engineer to the South Eastern Railway, who was one of the pioneer experimenters with submarine cables. Todd became fascinated with telecommunications. In 1855 the South Australian government requested Sir George Airy, the astronomer royal, to select an observer and superintendent of electric telegraph at a salary of £400; he nominated Todd, who was appointed on 10 February. He reached Port Adelaide (http://www.exploroz.com/Shop/Maps/ExploreAustralia/Adelaide.aspx) in the Irene on 4 November.

Rod
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=596526#post596526
When your on your way to Darwin, stop at this memorial to a fellow Astronomer who did Great things for Australia and it's Communications
with the rest of the world:thumbsup:

[renormalised]

Very interesting bit of history, there:)

[Buck]

Very influential in South Australia, and was a founding member of the ASSA. See here: http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/todd.htm

[michaellxv]

That's a good read. I see among other things we can thank him for the introduction of electric street lights that now plague us.

[astroron]

Buck thankyou for the link, it was a very interesting read:thumbsup:
When I am on my travels I stop at nearly all the roadside memorials, all interesting but some more than others.:)

[Ric]

Great bit of history Ron, thanks for the post.

Cheers

[gary]

Hi Ron, Hi Buck,

Thanks for the photos, transcriptions and links which are very interesting.

If Todd's father had not worked in Greenwich and if Todd had not gone to
school there, it makes one wonder if he would ever have made the connection
with the Observatory which in turn appears to have set him down a path
that would eventually see him with the unenviable task of stringing up a wire
across the interior of Australia.

ABC Television aired a program called "A Wire Through The Heart" just a few
years ago and it was only recently aired again. It re-enacts the journey taken by
John Stuart and then followed-up by Charles Todd with the telegraph.
Recommended viewing and available on DVD -
http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=744048

[Adelastro1]

Yes very interesting reading indeed.

I work in the Physics department at the Uni of Adelaide and we have a couple of old physics books entitled 'Treatise on Electricity in Theory & Practice' dated 1853 that I placed in a display cabinet that has 'C Todd' written on the inside covers. I don't know their background but Todd did do colaborative work with William Bragg (another well known South Australian immigrant and world renowned physicist) in the late 19th century. Bragg actually married his daughter and he spent a lot of time with Todd at the observatory using it's scietific equipment. I found an entry in a recent catalogue of Bragg items stating 'William Bragg and Charles Todd developed the first lengthy Australian radio link, between the Adelaide Observatory and Henley Beach'. The observatory was located on the current site of Adelaide High School on West Tce which is about 8km from Henley. We actually have that first signal sent marked on a long ticker tape housed in a display case!

Todd helped pioneer radio in Australia and could potentially be linked to radio astronomy. Does anyone have any other information about this possible link?

Wayne