Mason dixon line full#

The journal includes his astronomical observations and personal notes about the American frontier environment and his experiences in colonial America. Mason's journal provides the most complete record of the survey and its progress. The pair also conducted a number of experiments for the Royal Society such as measuring a degree of longitude. Mason and Dixon, accompanied by a large party of assistants, established three important boundaries: (1) the south boundary line of Pennsylvania separating it from Maryland and Virginia (2) the west boundary of the three lower counties of Pennsylvania (now Delaware) separating it from Maryland and (3) the south boundary of the three lower counties. Colonial surveyors had been unable accurately to establish the boundary due to their poor training and inadequate scientific instruments. 1761 transit of Venus Ī Plan of the West Line or Parallel of Latitude by Charles Mason, 1768įrom November 1763 to 1768, Mason and Jeremiah Dixon established the boundary line between the American provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Mason dixon line full#

In 1787, Mason's work was recognized, and he was awarded £750 (not the full prize of £10,000 to £20,000) by the Board of Longitude for his work on perfecting the Tables. Mason worked throughout his life to perfect the Lunar Tables as a method of improving navigation at sea.

The Lunar Tables were designed to solve the problem of determining longitude at sea, a challenge that frustrated scientists and navigators for decades. While employed at the Greenwich Observatory, Mason became familiar with Professor Tobias Mayer's Tables of the Moon. He served as assistant astronomer from 1756 to 1760 under the Reverend James Bradley, the third Astronomer Royal. Mason's early career was spent at the Royal Greenwich Observatory near London. The border between Delaware and Maryland is also defined by a part of the Mason–Dixon line.

Philadelphia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United StatesĬharles Mason (April 1728 – 25 October 1786) was an English astronomer who made significant contributions to 18th-century science and American history, particularly through his survey with Jeremiah Dixon of the Mason–Dixon line, which came to mark the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania (1764–1768).