ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Nevil Maskelyne

Okay kiddo, let me tell you about a person named Nevil Maskelyne. He was a very smart man who lived a long time ago in England.

Nevil was really interested in stars and planets, and he wanted to figure out the exact location of different stars in the sky. This wasn't an easy thing to do back then, because they didn't have fancy equipment like we do now.

So, Nevil came up with a clever idea. He decided to use something called a "pendulum clock" to measure the Earth's movements. The pendulum clock was like a regular clock, but it had a swinging stick inside of it that moved back and forth like a swing.

By watching how the pendulum moved at different times of the day and night, Nevil was able to figure out lots of cool things about the Earth's rotation and how it affects the stars in the sky.

Nevil became really famous for his discoveries and was even asked to be part of a group called the "Royal Society" that studied science and technology. He used his knowledge of the stars to help sailors navigate the seas, which was super helpful back then because they didn't have GPS or maps like we do now.

Overall, Nevil Maskelyne was a really smart guy who figured out some really interesting things about the Earth and the stars. And because of his work, we know a lot more about the universe today!