M&D Deep Duck Read. On science.

[David Morris]

They both have skills, some employed for research (Venus), some employed
for commerce (the Line).  They are also both adventurers.

Dixon has skills more spiritual also, like flying over ley lines.

David Morris

On Monday, January 5, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:

> Mason's early career was spent at the Royal Greenwich Observatory near
> London. He served as assistant astronomer from 1756 to 1760 under the
> Reverend James Bradley, the Astronomer Royal.
>
> While employed at the Greenwich Observatory, Mason became familiar
> with Professor Tobias Mayer’s Tables of the Moon. The Lunar Tableswere
> designed to solve the problem of determining longitude at sea, a
> challenge that frustrated scientists and navigators for decades. Mason
> worked throughout his life to perfect the Lunar Tables as a method of
> improving navigation at sea. In 1787, Mason was awarded £750 by the
> Board of Longitude for his work on perfecting the Tables.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mason#Early_career
>
> After completing the boundary survey in America, Mason returned to
> Greenwich where he continued work on Mayer's Lunar Tables. He also
> contributed to the Nautical Almanac, working under Nevil Maskelyne,
> Astronomer Royal.
>
> On September 27, 1786, Mason wrote to Benjamin Franklin claiming to
> have returned to Philadelphia with his wife, seven sons, and one
> daughter. Mason was very ill and confined to his bed. Mason also
> shared with Franklin the design for an astronomical project. Mason
> provided no explanation for his return to America, and nothing more is
> known of Mason's proposed project.
>
> Mason died on October 26, 1786, in Philadelphia
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mason#Career_after_the_Mason.E2.80.93Dixon_line_survey
>
> Jeremiah Dixon FRS (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779)[1] was an English
> surveyor and [amateur] astronomer who is best known for his work with
> Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called
> the Mason-Dixon line.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Dixon
>
> On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 5:27 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > Ongoing baseline concept--hat tip to a longtime Plister--Mason & Dixon
> > are 'scientists' within their time, right? Or at least technologists?
> > What was status of such?
> >
> > The pages from this book show how mathematics was taught to many young
> > Englishmen so they could navigate at sea but how surveying became
> > steadily popular to measure estates. Mathematics and astronomy
> > skillls. Accuracy, that necessary condition of science. The not-magic.
> >
> >
> https://books.google.com/books?id=urKT4s0qP88C&pg=PA162&dq=surveying+%2B+18th+Century&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zrKWVJHGE-6LsQSKtYCIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=surveying%20%2B%2018th%20Century&f=false
> > -
> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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