Editing Perth Observatory (section)

====John Bertrand Harris====
Upon the death of Spigl on 20 August 1962, John Bertrand Harris, who had been Spigl's assistant since 1957, became the fourth [[Western Australian Government Astronomer|Government Astronomer]] of the Perth Observatory between 1962 until the end of 1974.<ref>{{Cite book | chapter-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/harris-bertrand-john-10433 | title=Australian Dictionary of Biography| chapter=Harris, Bertrand John (1925–1974)| publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref> Harris had to step in to the position of Government Astronomer at a time when the Perth Observatory was on the move to its new site in the Darling Range, [[Bickley, Western Australia|Bickley]], some {{convert|24|km}} east of its original position in the City of [[Perth]]. Clearing of the land in the State Forrest in Bickely commenced in February 1964, with excavations commencing in May 1964 and construction works on buildings continuing through 1965; staff moved in on 19 December 1965.

With the new Bickely site complete, in 1967, Harris oversaw the installation of a [[meridian circle]] telescope at the Observatory as part of an expedition by [[astronomer]]s from the Hamburg Observatory in Germany. The expedition worked on the international Southern Reference Stars program that resulted in a revised, larger and more accurate meridian catalogue of the [[Southern Hemisphere]]: the Perth 70 meridian catalogue. In 1970 Harris was successful in forming a dedicated Perth Observatory Meridian section to assist the German expedition in their work. After the German expedition left over the 1971/72 Christmas/New Year period, Harris successfully negotiated the loan of the Hamburg telescope indefinitely and obtained funding from the [[Government of Western Australia]] to increase the Meridian staff numbers. This Perth Observatory Meridian team continued and expanded on the German expedition work, resulting in the Perth 75 meridian catalogue.

In 1967, Harris worked with the [[University of Western Australia]] to install a {{convert|16|in|mm|order=flip|adj=on}} telescope at the Observatory that was built and used by the University of Western Australia staff and students, as well as Perth Observatory astronomers.

Harris then moved the astrographic telescope, which had been in storage since August 1963, to the new site after arranging its refurbishment; the telescope recommenced observations on 29 March 1968, taking second [[Epoch (astronomy)|epoch]] photographic plates for [[proper motion]] studies.

In 1968, the [[Lowell Observatory]] of Flagstaff Arizona USA, located a {{convert|24|in|mm|order=flip|adj=on}} [[Boller and Chivens]] telescope at the Perth Observatory as part of the [[International Planetary Patrol Program]]. The program was designed to collect [[35 mm format|35-mm format]] photographic data on the atmospheric and surface features of Solar System planets, mostly Mars, Jupiter and Venus; Harris was to be a regular observer outside his normal daytime Government Astronomer role.

Harris was successful in increasing the technical and astronomical staff numbers at the new Bickley Perth Observatory as its role moved to that of more of a scientific function, however Harris also restarted the public tours on 23 October 1966 and maintained the provision of information services to Western Australia. Harris also continued [[Standard time|time]] and [[tide]] services for Western Australia, however as had been the case in 1908 for Meteorology, the move saw [[seismic]] monitoring activities being relocated to Mundaring under the Commonwealth Government control.

Harris was responsible for the August 1973 [[International Astronomical Union|IAU]] Symposium No. 61 in Perth on "New Problems of Astrometry". Like his predecessor, he died at an early age, 49, but had raised the standing of the Perth Observatory to a well respected scientific institution within Australia and internationally.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}