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guarantee for good workmanship or material. Strange abolished the patterns, encouraged invention, insured competition as to price by employing at least two makers for each class of instrument, and enforced strict supervision; a marked improvement in design and workmanship was soon evident, and the cost of the establishment was shown in his first decennial report to be only about .028 of one per cent. of the outlay on the works which the instruments were employed in designing or executing.
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Hitherto the system followed by the government in supervising the construction of scientific instruments for official use had been to keep a stock of patterns, invite tenders for copying them, and accept the lowest, thus preventing any chance of improvement in the type of instrument, and affording no
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on 2 June 1864. He took an active part in their proceedings. He served on the council of the
Astronomical Society from 1863 to 1867, and as foreign secretary from 1868 to 1873. He contributed several papers to the society's journals. He was on the council of the Royal Society from 1867 to 1869.
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Returning home in
January 1861, Strange retired from the army in December of the same year with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. As soon as he settled in England he persuaded the Indian government to establish a department for the inspection of scientific instruments for use in India, and was
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While at work in the Thar Desert, the absence of materials for building the necessary platforms, besides the need of providing a commissariat for two hundred men, taxed all the leader's resources. The triangulation of the section was completed on 22 April 1853. The series was 668 miles
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A lover of science for its own sake, he long preached the duty of government to support scientific research, especially in directions where discovery, though enriching the community, brings no benefit to the inventor. To this advocacy was mainly due the appointment in 1870 of the
91:, and took part in measuring a verificatory base-line. He then bore the designation of "astronomical assistant". In 1855 he joined the surveyor-general's headquarters office, and in 1856 was placed in charge of the triangulation southwards from Calcutta (present-day
99:), along the east coast. In 1859 he was promoted to the rank of major, and, in accordance with the regulations, retired from the survey. He received the special thanks of the government of India.
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for determining of longitude, with special arrangements for detecting flexure of the telescope; with others, which all exhibited important developments from previously accepted types.
83:(1,075 km) long, consisting of 173 principal triangles, and covering an area of 20,323 miles (32,707 km). After this work was ended, Strange joined the surveyor-general, Sir
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with a horizontal circle of 3 feet (0.91 m) diameter, and a vertical circle of 2 feet (0.61 m) diameter (these circles were read by means of micrometre microscopes); two
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79:. When the work was begun in 1850 Strange acted as first assistant to Captain Renny Tailyour, but after the first season Tailyour withdrew and Strange took chief command.
23:. After retirement from the army he settled in Britain; he supervised the construction of scientific instruments used in surveying, and supported scientific research.
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In India his natural bent for mechanical science and his inventive faculty soon declared themselves. After studying at the
Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory at
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For the trigonometrical survey he himself designed and superintended the construction of a set of massive standard instruments: a great
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with arc of 18 inches (46 cm) radius and telescope of 4 feet (1.2 m) focal length; two 5 feet (1.5 m)
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168:, India. They had three daughters and a son, Alexander Burroughs Strange, who became a civil engineer in Madras.
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19:(27 April 1818 – 9 March 1876) was a British army officer in India and took part there in the
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Strange died in
Kensington, London on 9 March 1876, of "Indian fever" and a feeble heart.
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He married
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of India. He was employed on the "Karachi longitudinal series", extending from the
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Strange was born in
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310: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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appointed to organise it, and to the office of inspector in 1862.
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43:, and left aged 16 for India, on receiving a commission in the
330:. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 20–21.
221:. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 20–21.
47:(22 June 1834). He was promoted lieutenant on 10 May 1837.
156:, which adopted and recommended many of his suggestions.
59:, Strange was appointed in 1847 second assistant to the
103:Inspector of scientific instruments for India
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275:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
256:, Volume 13, pages 408–409 (23 March 1876).
154:Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction
380:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society
375:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
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35:and his second wife Louisa, daughter of
272:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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131:Royal Society and other societies
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327:Dictionary of National Biography
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218:Dictionary of National Biography
33:Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange
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249:The Late Colonel Strange, FRS
385:Fellows of the Royal Society
365:British Indian Army officers
289:UK public library membership
61:Great Trigonometrical Survey
21:Great Trigonometrical Survey
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237:Lt.-Col. Alexander Strange
208:"Strange, Alexander"
141:Royal Astronomical Society
137:Royal Geographical Society
316:Trotter, Coutts (1898). "
95:) to Madras (present-day
67:base in Central India to
205:Trotter, Coutts (1898).
45:7th Madras light cavalry
360:People from Westminster
281:10.1093/ref:odnb/26634
269:"Strange, Alexander".
39:. He was educated at
143:in 1861, and of the
125:transit instruments
71:, and crossing the
318:Strange, Alexander
85:Andrew Scott Waugh
370:English surveyors
287:(Subscription or
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139:and of the
73:Thar Desert
339:Categories
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175:References
117:theodolite
27:Early life
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166:Landour
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320:". In
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