Romanian Contribution to the Study of Polar Motion

Extract

Romanian astronomy has an old tradition, which is rather less well-known abroad. More known perhaps are the Dacian sanctuary of Sarmizegetusa Regia, very similar to that of Stonehenge, or the contribution of the monk Dionysius Exiguus (born at Tomis, in Dobrogea) to the initiation of the Christian Era. But one of the most important applications of the astronomical knowledge was coordinate determination. It is interesting to remark that the development of astronomy since the 16th century followed closely the advances of accuracy in estimating the coordinates of the main localities.