Celestial globe, c.1766
In designing his celestial globe, George Adams drew on the work of the French astronomer
Abbé Nicolas de Lacaille, who had mapped the stars in the southern hemisphere from
1750-52. Lacaille's map published in 1763 arranged the southern stars into constellations based
on scientific instruments. Adams reproduced the constellations but used his own instruments in
the design. Here, we see the air pump.
© Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library