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The name Pico was introduced by the German astronomer Johann
H. Schröter to commemorate Mount Teide (then known as Pico Teneriffe).
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, following the practice common at
the time of naming lunar orographical features after prominent terrestrial formations, Schröter placed Pico on the Moon. The Teneriffe Mountains were
added in the second half of the nineteenth century by William R. Birt in
honour of the expedition to Tenerife of his friend Charles Piazzi Smyth. That
journey, as we shall see later, was to have a great impact on the future of
astronomy in the Canaries.
The eighteenth century was one of great scientific circumnavigations,
which were to continue into the following century, and astronomers were
always involved. Many of these expeditions stopped over at Tenerife. There
are records of astronomical observations carried out on the island by Louis
Feuillée of Paris Observatory in 1724, Claret de Fleurieu in 1769, and
J. C. Borda, A. G. Pingré, and J. R. Verdun de la Crenne in 1778.
The nineteenth century abounded in scientific, and sometimes not so scientific, expeditions to remote countries, although not all were as celebrated as
that of Darwin to the Galapagos Islands, the findings of which were to be so
decisive for the theory of the evolution of species. It seems that Darwin,
inspired by Humboldt’s description of his stay in Tenerife en route to America
in the final years of the eighteenth century, was eager to acquire a knowledge
of Tenerife. But his hopes were dashed when the Beagle, on approaching the
Santa Cruz road on 6 January 1832, was denied entry on suspicion that it
might be carrying cholera on board. The crew did not wish to delay the voyage by the mandatory twelve-day quarantine period, and Darwin had to be
content with viewing Mount Teide from afar. In a letter to his father later that
year he wrote:
We were becalmed for a day between Teneriffe and the Grand Canary, and here
I first experienced any enjoyment. The view was glorious. The Peak of Teneriffe
was seen amongst the clouds like another world. Our only drawback was the
extreme wish of visiting this glorious island.
It was in the mid-nineteenth century when Charles Piazzi Smyth undertook his astronomical expedition, which is considered the origin of the mountain observatories that later sprouted up worldwide, especially during the
twentieth century.
It was in the winter of 1855–56, through the offices of the Astronomer
Royal, G. B. Airy, that Piazzi Smyth, who had been appointed Astronomer
Royal for Scotland in 1846, succeeded in persuading the British Admiralty of
F. Sánchez
The name Pico was introduced by the German astronomer Johann
H. Schröter to commemorate Mount Teide (then known as Pico Teneriffe).
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, following the practice common at
the time of naming lunar orographical features after prominent terrestrial formations, Schröter placed Pico on the Moon. The Teneriffe Mountains were
added in the second half of the nineteenth century by William R. Birt in
honour of the expedition to Tenerife of his friend Charles Piazzi Smyth. That
journey, as we shall see later, was to have a great impact on the future of
astronomy in the Canaries.
The eighteenth century was one of great scientific circumnavigations,
which were to continue into the following century, and astronomers were
always involved. Many of these expeditions stopped over at Tenerife. There
are records of astronomical observations carried out on the island by Louis
Feuillée of Paris Observatory in 1724, Claret de Fleurieu in 1769, and
J. C. Borda, A. G. Pingré, and J. R. Verdun de la Crenne in 1778.
The nineteenth century abounded in scientific, and sometimes not so scientific, expeditions to remote countries, although not all were as celebrated as
that of Darwin to the Galapagos Islands, the findings of which were to be so
decisive for the theory of the evolution of species. It seems that Darwin,
inspired by Humboldt’s description of his stay in Tenerife en route to America
in the final years of the eighteenth century, was eager to acquire a knowledge
of Tenerife. But his hopes were dashed when the Beagle, on approaching the
Santa Cruz road on 6 January 1832, was denied entry on suspicion that it
might be carrying cholera on board. The crew did not wish to delay the voyage by the mandatory twelve-day quarantine period, and Darwin had to be
content with viewing Mount Teide from afar. In a letter to his father later that
year he wrote:
We were becalmed for a day between Teneriffe and the Grand Canary, and here
I first experienced any enjoyment. The view was glorious. The Peak of Teneriffe
was seen amongst the clouds like another world. Our only drawback was the
extreme wish of visiting this glorious island.
It was in the mid-nineteenth century when Charles Piazzi Smyth undertook his astronomical expedition, which is considered the origin of the mountain observatories that later sprouted up worldwide, especially during the
twentieth century.
It was in the winter of 1855–56, through the offices of the Astronomer
Royal, G. B. Airy, that Piazzi Smyth, who had been appointed Astronomer
Royal for Scotland in 1846, succeeded in persuading the British Admiralty of
F. Sánchez