Type Observatory Completed 1840 Owner Durham University Architect Anthony Salvin | Location Potters Bank, Durham Opened 1840 Construction started 1839 | |
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Similar The Racecourse, Durham University Museum, Durham University Botanic G, Durham University Oriental, Palace Green | ||
The Durham University Observatory is a weather observatory owned and operated by the University of Durham. It is a Grade II listed building located at Potters Bank, Durham and was founded in 1839 initially as an astronomical and meteorological observatory (owing to the need to calculate refraction from the air temperature) by Temple Chevallier, until 1937 when the observatory moved purely to meteorological recording.
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Map of Durham University Observatory, Durham, UK
The observatory's current Director is Professor Tim Burt of the Geography Department, who is also Master of Hatfield College.
After the Radcliffe Observatory, Durham has the longest unbroken meteorological record of any University in the UK, with records dating back to the 1840s, principally due to the work of Gordon Manley in creating a temperature record that would be comparable to Oxford's. At present the observatory contributes to the Met Office's forecasts by providing automated records.