Higgitt Rebekah
Br J Hist Sci. 2014 Dec;47(175 Pt 4):609-35. doi: 10.1017/s0007087413000678.
Over its long history, the buildings of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich were enlarged and altered many times, reflecting changing needs and expectations of astronomers and funders, but also the constraints of a limited site and small budgets. The most significant expansion took place in the late nineteenth century, overseen by the eighth Astronomer Royal, William Christie, a programme that is put in the context of changing attitudes toward scientific funding, Christie's ambitious plans for the work and staffing of the Observatory and his desire to develop a national institution that could stand with more recently founded European and American rivals. Examination of the archives reveals the range of strategies Christie was required to use to acquire consent and financial backing from the Admiralty, as well as his opportunistic approach. While hindsight might lead to criticism of his decisions, Christie eventually succeeded in completing a large building - the New Physical Observatory - that, in its decoration, celebrated Greenwich's past while, in its name, style, structure and contents, it was intended to signal the institution's modernization and future promise.
在其漫长的历史中，格林威治皇家天文台的建筑多次扩建和改建，这既反映了天文学家和资助者不断变化的需求与期望，也体现了场地有限和预算紧张的限制。最重大的扩建发生在19世纪后期，由第八任皇家天文学家威廉·克里斯蒂监督。这一项目被置于对科学资助态度转变的背景下，克里斯蒂对天文台工作和人员配备的宏伟计划，以及他想要建立一个能与欧美近期成立的竞争对手相抗衡的国家机构的愿望之中。对档案的研究揭示了克里斯蒂为获得海军部的同意和财政支持而需要采用的一系列策略，以及他的机会主义方法。尽管事后诸葛亮可能会对他的决定提出批评，但克里斯蒂最终成功建成了一座大型建筑——新物理天文台。这座天文台在装饰方面颂扬了格林威治的过去，而在名称、风格、结构和内容上，它旨在彰显该机构的现代化和未来前景。
