Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Topping, Michael
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
1747 - 1796
History
Michael Topping (1747 – 7 January 1796) was the Chief Marine Surveyor of Fort St. George in Chennai (then Madras) responsible for founding the oldest modern technical school outside Europe. Topping persuaded astronomer William Petrie to transfer his private observatory to the government and set up the first modern astronomical observatory,[3] the Madras Observatory, in Nungambakkam