Timeline
Verbatim
A journey into Canadian astronomy
Before 1400 : Instruments
The ancient Egyptians use the transit for the first time about 4,000 years ago.
Before 1400 : Instruments
The astrolab and octant are the predecessors of the sextant.
Before 1400 : Observatories
For thousands of years, native people use the stars to navigate and to monitor the passage of time. Stars are also the inspiration for native legends, which are passed down from generation to generation.
Before 1400 : Instruments
The Assyrians are likely the first to use lenses to magnify objects, probably around 1,500 BC.
1430 : Evolution of images
Flemish painter Jan van Eyck makes the first known drawing of the Moon in his painting entitled "The crucifixion".
1497 : Observatories
By exploring Newfoundland, John Cabot becomes the first known European to set foot on Canadian soil. Like all explorers of his time, he navigates using the stars.
1504 : Evolution of images
Leonardo da Vinci draws this sketch of the Moon.
1535 : Observatories
Jacques Cartier explores the continental interior. He finds the mouth of the Saint-Lawrence during the Perseid meteor shower.
1540 : Instruments
Leonard Digges constructs the first telescope using lenses.
1603 : Observatories
The roots of astronomy take hold in Canada with the arrival of Samuel de Champlain, the first governor of New France.
1609 : Evolution of images
British astronomer Thomas Harriot uses a refracting telescope to make the first sketch of the Moon many months before Galileo performs the same feat.
1610 : Instruments
In Italy, Galileo publishes "The Starry Messenger" and makes revolutionary astronomical observations using a telescope he built himself.
1618 : Observatories
Jesuits record the first astronomical observations made in Canada.
1634 : Observatories
Astronomy becomes an official task assigned to the Engineer-in-Chief and Land Surveyor for the New France colony in Quebec.
1646 : Observatories
Jean Bourdon is the first Canadian to own a telescope.
1654 : Evolution of images
The first known drawing of the Orion nebula, drawn by Giovanni Batista Hodierna.
1667 : pollution
Louis XIV commands all roads in the capital of Paris to be lit at night in order to combat thefts and other crimes.
1668 : Instruments
Isaac Newton builds his telescope.
1669 : Instruments
Rasmus Bartholin publishes the first article on the splitting of light rays by Icelandic spar.
1672 : Instruments
In France, Laurent Cassegrain invents a new type of reflecting telescope.
1730~ : Instruments
The modern version of the sextant is independently invented by John Hadley in England and Thomas Godfrey in the United States.
1750~ : Observatories
Evidence suggests that an astronomical observatory is installed at the College of Quebec.
1751 : Observatories
An engraving showing the image of sky observers outdoors with an astronomical instrument at the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. It is likely that a temporary observatory existed for a short time in the fortress.
1765 : Observatories
The first North American observatory that existed with historical certainty is constructed at Castle Frederick, an estate founded by Joseph DesBarres at Falmouth, Nova Scotia
1771 : Evolution of images
Charles Messier makes this drawing of the Orion nebula.
1775 : Evolution of images
The first map of the Moon with longitudes and latitudes. German astronomer Tobias Mayer drew the base map in the 1850's, but the longitudes and latitudes were added in 1775, after his death.
1792 : pollution
William Murdoch invents the natural gas lamp and cities in Britain begin to light their streets using natural gas.
1811 : Instruments
French astronomer Dominique François Jean Arago invents the polariscope.
1816 : Instruments
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce succeeds in making the first photograph on paper.
1822 : Instruments
French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce makes the first permanent photograph using a sheet of polished tin coated with bitumen.
1836 : Instruments
British astronomer John Frederick William Herschel invents the photometer.
1842 : Instruments
French optician Noël Marie Paymal Lerebours photographs the Sun for the first time.
1845 : Evolution of images
American physician and chemist John William Draper takes this daguerreotype of the Moon.
1846 : Observatories
Dr. Charles Smallwood establishes an observatory at Saint-Martin on Quebec’s Île Jésus (now “Laval”).
1849 : Observatories
Dr. James Toldervy of Fredericton, New Brunswick, creates an observatory in his garden near the Saint John River.
1850 : Evolution of images
Lord Rosse makes this drawing of the Orion nebula.
1850 : Instruments
American astronomer William Cranch Bond and photographer John Adams Whipple produce the first photograph of a star when they take this daguerreotype of Vega.
1850 : Observatories
The Quebec City Observatory is established on the Plains of Abraham.
1851 : Evolution of images
American photographer John Adams Whipple takes this daguerreotype of the Moon.
1854 : Astronomes
William Frederick King is born.
1856 : Observatories
The Kingston Observatory is established in London, Ontario.
1859 : Instruments
German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and German physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff invent the first spectroscope.
1861 : Instruments
Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell creates the first colour photograph using filters made of coloured glass plates.
1862 : Observatories
The King College Observatory is established in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
1863 : Observatories
The McGill University Observatory is established in Montreal, Quebec.
1865 : Astronomes
John Stanley Plaskett is born.
1865 : Astronomes
Clarence Augustus Chant is born.
1865 : Evolution of images
British astronomer and chemist Warren De La Rue takes this photograph of the Moon. De La Rue becomes the first person to print photos.
1870 : Evolution of images
American lawyer and astronomer Lewis Morris Rutherfurd takes the first pictures of the Moon that are sensitive to violet light. They reveal, for the first time, many details that are hard to see with the naked eye.
1873 : Observatories
The Charles Blackman Observatory is established in Montreal, Quebec.
1879 : Instruments
American inventor George Eastman (who would go on to found the Eastman-Kodak company in 1892) builds a machine for coating photographic plates with emulsion, which allows for the mass production of photographs.
1879 : Observatories
The Woodstock College Observatory is established in Hamilton, Ontario.
1879 : pollution
Edison makes a major improvement on the electric light bulb.
1880 : Instruments
British chemist William de Wiveleslie Abney is the first to take an infrared photograph.
1882 : Observatories
The Victoria College Observatory is established in Cobourg, Ontario.
1890 : Observatories
The Cliff Street Observatory is established in Ottawa, Ontario.
1891 : Instruments
American physicist Albert Abraham Michelson constructs the first interferometer.
1896 : Evolution of images
The Paris Observatory takes this photograph of the Moon for its Photographic Atlas of the Moon, a reference book without equal until 1960.
1899 : Astronomes
Carlyle Smith Beals is born.
1900 : Evolution of images
American optician George Willis Ritchey takes exceptional photos of the Moon. They are so good that 60 years later, Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper will include three of them in his 1960 Photographic Atlas of Moon.
1904 : Astronomes
Gerhard Herzberg is born.
1905 : Astronomes
Helen Sawyer Hogg is born.
1905 : Observatories
The Dominion Observatory is established in Ottawa, Ontario.
1910 : Astronomes
Andrew McKellar is born.
1913 : Astronomes
Arthur Edwin Covington is born.
1918 : Observatories
The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory is established at Saanich near Victoria, British Columbia.
1919 : Evolution of images
American astronomer Francis Gladheim Pease takes the first photos of the Moon that reveal details invisible to the naked eye.
1920 : Astronomes
Anne Barbara Underhill is born.
1929 : Astronomes
Sidney van den Bergh is born.
1932 : Astronomes
1935 : Observatories
Establishment of the David Dunlap Observatory at Richmond Hill near Toronto, Ontario.
1939 : Astronomes
René Racine is born.
1941 : Astronomes
John Barrie Hutchings is born.
1942 : Astronomes
Jack Newton is born.
1943 : Astronomes
Charles Thomas Bolton is born.
1943 : Astronomes
Jean-René Roy is born.
1943 : Astronomes
Damien Lemay is born.
1943 : Astronomes
Paul Boltwood is born.
1947 : Astronomes
Peter Gordon Martin is born.
1948 : Astronomes
Gilles Fontaine is born.
1948 : Astronomes
David Howard Levy is born.
1950 : Astronomes
John Richard Bond is born.
1950 : Astronomes
Scott Duncan Tremaine is born.
1953 : Instruments
Study of atmospheric turbulence using adaptive optics. Replace by: 1953: American astronomer Horace Welcome Babcock invents adaptive optics, a procedure that corrects image distortions caused by terrestrial atmospheric turbulence.
1956 : Evolution of images
Gerard Peter Kuiper publishes the last great photographic lunar atlas using images recorded from Earth.
1958 : Astronomes
Jaymie Mark Matthews is born.
1958 : Evolution of images
The Orion nebula seen through the 1.2-metre Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar.
1959 : Observatories
The Algonquin Radio Observatory is established at Traverse Lake in Ontario.
1960 : Observatories
The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory is established at White Lake near Penticton, British Columbia.
1964 : Evolution of images
The first photograph of the Moon is taken by the American space probe Ranger VII.
1969 : Evolution of images
Astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission take the first photos from the Moon.
1969 : Instruments
Americans Willard Boyle and George Smith design the basic structure of a CCD.
1972 : Observatories
The Rothney Astrophysical Observatory is established at Priddis, southwest of Calgary, Alberta.
1973 : Evolution of images
Orion, as seen through the telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
1974 : Evolution of images
The first astronomical image taken by a CCD camera is this photo of the Moon.
1978 : Observatories
The Mont-Mégantic Observatory is established at Notre-Dame-des-Bois, Quebec.
1978 : Pollution
The natural brightness of the sky has doubled at Mont-Mégantic.
1979 : Observatories
The Canada-France-Hawaii Observatory is established atop Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii.
1987 : Observatories
The James-Clerk-Maxwell Observatory is established near the summit of Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii.
1992 : pollution
UNESCO dedicates a special section to the conservation of the sky and its purity in its "Declaration of the rights for future generations".
1995 : Observatories
The University of British-Columbia Liquid-Mirror Observatory is built at Maple Ridge near Vancouver, British Columbia.
1999 : Observatories
The Gemini North and South observatories are established in Hawaii and Chile.
1999 : Observatories
Launch of the FUSE Space Telescope by Canada, the United States, and France.
1999 : Observatories
Ontario's Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is established.
2000 : Observatories
Establishment of the Cosmic Background Imager by Canada, the United-States and Chile.
2001 : Observatories
The Odin Space Observatory is launched by Sweden, Canada, Finland and France.
2002 : Evolution of images
The Orion nebula as seen through the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
2002 : Pollution
More than 95% of stars are no longer visible from large Canadian cities. About two thirds of Canadians can no longer see the Milky Way.
2003 : Observatories
Launch of MOST, the first space telescope to be entirely designed and built in Canada.
2005 : Evolution of images
Image of lunar crater Clavius taken at the Mont-Mégantic Observatory.
2005 : Evolution of images
The Orion nebula as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.
2006 : Astronomes
The next generation of Canadian astronomers.
2011 : Observatories
Planned inauguration of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array by Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan and Chile.
In the future : Observatories
Planed launch of the James Webb Space Telescope by Canada, the United States and Europe.
