Sir John Henry Lefroy was an English military officer and later colonial administrator who also distinguished himself with his scientific studies of the Earth's magnetism.
Sir John Henry Lefroy, ca. 1880
The Surveyor: Portrait of Captain John Henry Lefroy, ca. 1845, sold at a record price of more than C$5 million in 2002. The painting is sometimes also called Scene in the Northwest.
Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory
The Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory is a historical observatory located on the grounds of the University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project run by Edward Sabine to determine the cause of fluctuations in magnetic declination. Measurements from the Toronto site demonstrated that sunspots were responsible for this effect on Earth's magnetic field. When this project concluded in 1853, the observatory was greatly expanded by the Canadian government and served as the country's primary meteorological station and official timekeeper for over fifty years. The observatory is considered the birthplace of Canadian astronomy.
The Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory on the grounds of the University of Toronto
The original observatory: the main building is on the right, with the dome visible, and the roof of the smaller buried building is just visible over the fence. Painted by William Armstrong in 1852.
The newer observatory before it was moved, looking towards the southwest. This image is the same orientation as the one below, viewed from the left of the tower.
The observatory in 2009, looking east-southeast. Offices on the ground floor have been rotated; the entrance was formerly to the right of the tower.
