Royal Observatory Opens (1675): Churches v. Astronomy It was on this date, August 10, 1675, that, by order of King Charles II, the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, south London, was laid. The rationale was chiefly commercial: to improve knowledge of the positions of stars in order to aid navigation. The first […]

In practice, the Church punished severely only those who questioned doctrine. More space on the “Index” was devoted to translations of the Bible than to any other work, including lewd ones.