Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Goldingham, John
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1767 - 1849
History
John Goldingham was a notable figure in astronomy and engineering, serving as the first official astronomer of the Madras Observatory and later becoming the Presidency Civil Engineer in 1800. During his tenure, Goldingham established the Madras time, 5 hours and 21 minutes ahead of GMT, laying the closest precedent to the later Indian Standard Time adopted in 1906. His work was influential in astronomy, contributing to the publication of the 'Madras Catalogue' that documented the positions of 11,000 stars.