![](https://assets.cambridge.org/97811080/21647/cover/9781108021647.jpg)
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Online publication date:
- March 2014
- Print publication year:
- 2010
- First published in:
- 1909
- Online ISBN:
- 9781139198073
12th August 2024: digital purchasing is currently unavailable on Cambridge Core. Due to recent technical disruption affecting our publishing operation, we are experiencing some delays to publication. We are working hard to restore services as soon as possible and apologise for the inconvenience. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
First published in 1909, this autobiography details the astonishing life of Roger Langdon (1825–94), a country station-master and amateur astronomer. Langdon's life is a remarkable story of self-education and determination: he started work as a farmer's boy at the age of eight, ran away from the home to work for a shipowner in Jersey at fourteen, and was then employed by a blacksmith, canvas manufacturers, and a solicitor before finding work with the Great Western Railway. Langdon was from an early age interested in astronomy, and eventually constructed four telescopes and his own observatory. He developed his own method for photographing the moon and the transit of Venus, and presented a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society, which is included in the appendices. Langdon died before completing his autobiography, and the latter chapters on his scientific achievements and final years were completed by his daughter Ellen.
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.