work was commenced at Dunsink, the Board thought it expedient to
appoint the first Professor of Astronomy. They met for this purpose
on the 22nd January, 1783, and chose the Rev. Henry Ussher, a Senior
Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. The wisdom of the appointment was
immediately shown by the assiduity with which Ussher engaged in
founding the observatory. In three years he had erected the
buildings and equipped them with instruments, several of which were
of his own invention. On the 19th of February, 1785, a special grant
of 200 pounds was made by the Board to Dr. Ussher as some recompense
for his labours. It happened that the observatory was not the only
scientific institution which came into being in Ireland at this
period; the newly-kindled ardour for the pursuit of knowledge led, at
the same time, to the foundation of the Royal Irish Academy. By a
fitting coincidence, the first memoir published in the "Transactions
Of The Royal Irish Academy," was by the first Andrews, Professor of
Astronomy. It was read on the 13th of June, 1785, and bore the
title, "Account of the Observatory belonging to Trinity College," by
the Rev. H. Ussher, D.D., M.R.I.A., F.R.S. This communication shows
the extensive design that had been originally intended for Dunsink,
only a part of which was, however, carried out. For instance, two
long corridors, running north and south from the central edifice,
which are figured in the paper, never developed into bricks and
mortar. We are not told why the original scheme had to be
contracted; but perhaps the reason may be not unconnected with a
remark of Ussher's, that the College had already advanced from its
own funds a sum considerably exceeding the original bequest. The
picture of the building shows also the dome for the South equatorial,
which was erected many years later.

Ussher died in 1790. During his brief career at the observatory, he