Captain James Cook
Captain Crook was an English navigator and explorer in the Royal Navy. He originally started in the merchant navy and studied maths and astronomy before joining the navy.
In his early naval career he also became an expert cartographer mapping the River Lawrence in Canada.
It was known that there would be a transit of Venus in 1769 and that it would provide an ideal opportunity to study Venus as it crossed the sun. In addition by observing the transit from three different places on the earth it would be possible to estimate the distance between the earth and the sun.
James Cook was chosen to captain a ship to Tahiti in the Pacific for one of sites to be used. Because of his experiences with collier ships he chose to take a Whitby built colliery ship on the voyage called the Endeavour.
Cook not only captained the expedition but used his knowledge of astronomy to be one of three people who observed the transit and took measurements on the island.
He later went on to search for the fabled southern continent. Although not totally successful he did map the east coast of Australia and claimed it for Britain. Cook also tested a copy of a timekeeper, or sea clock, designed by John Harrison. Its successful performance meant that Cook and all future navigators were able to fix longitude much more accurately than before.
He also explored the seas around Antarctica and searched for the elusive North West Passage in the seas around Canada.
He was killed in Hawaii after a dispute with the islanders over a stolen boat escalated into a fight.
He is regarded as the UKs finest navigator and explorer.
Cook’s Extraterrestrial Connections
Asteroid 3061 Cook
3061 Cook (1982 UB1) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on October 21, 1982 by Bowell, E. at Flagstaff (AM). There is little information available but this
website
will tell you a little more.
Lunar Crater Crook
Cook is a lunar crater that lies in the western part of the Mare Fecunditatis, just to the south east of the prominent crater Colombo. To the south west is Monge.
The interior of this crater has been flooded with lava, leaving only a low rim projecting above the surface. This rim is not quite circular, and has a somewhat hexagonal appearance. The low wall is worn in a few places, particularly along the north eastern rim. There is a tiny craterlet called Cook A on the interior floor near the south eastern rim.
The crater has a diameter of 47 km and a depth 1.2 km. It was photographed during the Apollo 16 mission.
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Mars Crater Endeavour
Mars Endeavour Crater is an impact crater on Mars that was visited by Mars Exploration Rover-B Opportunity on August 9 2011. This web site has more information and a photograph of the crater.
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The crater is named after the ship that Captain Cook used on his first voyage of exploration including taking measurements of the Venus transit of the sun in 1769. It has a diameter of 22 kilometres and a depth of 300 metres.
The Venus Transit of the Sun
Although nothing to do with Venus is named after him, Cook is closely associated with the transit of Venus across the sun in 1769.
There were multiple international scientific experiments during the transit. Most importantly by taking measurements at 3 different locations it was hoped that it would be possible to calculate the distance of the earth from the sun.
His personal measurements formed an integral part of the collation of the results of observations from around the world.
At the time limitations in the equipment used meant that there was some disappointment in the accuracy of the calculations but in fact the calculated distance from the earth to the sun is only .08 percent different to measurements taken using the most modern and advanced scientific equipment.
The bust of Captain Cook
The carved stone bust in a roundel is one of 5 carvings of explorers on the rear of the former Bradford Wool Exchange.
Bradford had grown rapidly in the Industrial Revolution on the back of the wool trade and became known as the wool capital of the world. An earlier wool exchange had taken over a building that had been erected as public newsrooms and ballroom. As time went by Bradford’s wool trade continued to grow and it was decided that a larger purpose built building was required.
It is a Heritage England Grade I listed building
listing "Competition winning design of 1864 by Lockwood and Mawson. The foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. Completed in 1867. Occupying a triangular island site, the building has 3 main storeys of very finely masoned Bradford sandstone with a prominent clock tower at the north end. Red and yellow sandstone dressings. In type the design looks to the precedent of the great Flemish Cloth Halls but the style is Venetian Gothic, particularly in the polychromy and the serrated openwork of the parapet cresting."
This
website about architecture in Bradford tells us that the rear of the building has the 5 busts of explorers. The eastern side of the building has carvings of prominent industrialists.