Manila Observatory

The observatory as of January 2025 The observatory as of January 2025
Organization	Ateneo de Manila University
Location	Quezon City, Philippines
Coordinates	14°38′12″N 121°04′36″E / 14.63667°N 121.07667°E
Established	1865
Website	www.observatory.ph
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The Manila Observatory is a non-profit research institute housed on the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded by the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, in 1865 as the Observatorio Meteorológico del Ateneo Municipal de Manila. It was later renamed Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila. It has done weather forecasting and earthquake research and today researches seismic and geomagnetic phenomena as well as radio and solar physics.

History

An article published in Diario de Manila by Jesuit Fr. Jaime Nonell led to the observatory's establishment. The article described Jesuit Fr. Francisco Colina's observations of a typhoon in September 1865 and led the public to ask Jesuit superior Juan Vidal for the observations to be continued. After initial hesitation on the part of the Jesuits because of the primitive instruments available, the superior yielded upon the promise of a Secchi Universal Meteorograph purchased from the Holy See. This started systemic observation of the Philippine weather.

The institute was founded and led by Jesuit cleric Federico Faura. It started issuing warnings on typhoons in 1879, and the next year earthquake observations. In 1884 the Spanish government recognized the observatory as the official institution for weather forecasting in the Philippines. It started its time service in 1885, seismology in 1887, and astronomy in 1899. After the fire in 1932 in Intramuros, it became the site exclusive for the high school classes until the war.

The American colonial government established the observatory in 1901 as the Philippine Weather Bureau, which expanded into meteorology, astronomy, and geomagnetism. The work of the bureau was interrupted by the Second World War. During the Battle of Manila, all of the instruments and important documents of the bureau were destroyed, and it ceased to function. A specific government agency was established in its place. The observatory resumed operation in 1951 in Baguio, mainly for studies on seismology and the ionosphere. In 1963 it was transferred to the Loyola Heights campus of Ateneo de Manila University where it continues its studies into seismology, geomagnetism, and radio physics, among other areas of research.

Organizational structure

The observatory is mainly composed of two units: administration and research. Administration is primarily composed of General Administration, Accounting, Human Resource, and Physical Facilities and Supplies. Research programs include Climate Change Assistance, Geomatics for Environment and Development, Instrumentation and Technology, Regional Climate Systems, Solid Earth Dynamics, Air Quality Dynamics, and Special Research Projects. The observatory's recent special research projects are: Climate Change Adaptation – Disaster Risk Management and Co-benefits of Climate Change Mitigation.

See also

• List of Jesuit sites

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Manila Observatory, founded by Father Frederic Faura, S.J., in 1865; constituted officially "The Philippine Weather Bureau" by decree of the American governor, May, 1901.

The typhoon, known in the Philippines as a baguío, is one of the worst enemies with which the islands have to contend. Father Faura, a Jesuit professor at the Ateneo College, spent many years in the study of these dreaded storms, in the hope of one day being able to foretell their coming and thereby avert much of the damage they would otherwise cause. On 7 July, 1879, he predicted that a baguío would pass over northern Luzon; the event justified his warning. It was the first time that the existence, duration, and course of a typhoon had been existed in the Far East. On 18 November of the same year, Fr. Faura predicted a second typhoon, which he said would pass through Manila. The announcement caused great consternation to the city. Proper precautions were take n, and the captain of the port forbade vessels to leave the harbour. Thanks to Father Faura, comparatively little damage was done in Manila, when, two days later, the storm broke in all its fury on the city. At other ports, to which warning of the approaching storm could not be sent for lack of telegraphic communication, the destruction was enormous. Forty-two vessels were wrecked in Southern Luzon alone, and may lives were lost.

These successful predictions aroused the interests of a number of merchants of the city, who subscribed money to enable him to continue his valuable work on a larger scale. In 1880, when cable connections between Hong Kong and Manila were established, the merchants of the former colony requested that Father Faura's prediction be sent to them, and their request was cheerfully granted. For some time the Jesuit meteorologist had been working on a barometer of his own invention, specially designed to foretell the approach of baguíos. In 1886 the "Faura barometer" was offered to the public, and it passed immediately into general use among the navigators of the Philippine waters and the China Sea. In 1884 the government at Madrid declared Father Faura's weather bureau an official institution, to be known as the Manila Observatory. It was then removed from the Ateneo to its present location in the District of Ermita, Manila. Fourteen sub-station, each equipped with suitable meteorological instruments, were now opened in Luzon, and their daily observations were published in a monthly bulletin. In 1890, at the request of the Japanese government, observations began to be exchanged with that country. In 1895, the Manila Observatory was invited to be one of the sixteen observatories in the world to co-operate in the work of cloud-measurement, and it succeeded in making the highest of these measurements. The photographic measurements were carried on by the Rev. José Algué, S. J., who is now director of the Philippine Weather Bureau. Father Algué published a valuable work. "The Clouds in the Philippine Archipelago", as the result of his observations. His "Philippine Cyclones", a volume much prized by navigators, and which has been translated into several languages, was publish ed in 1897. In the same year he gave the public his "barocyclonometer", an improvement on Father Faura's invention, by which storms may be foretold, not only in the Philippines, but throughout the entire Orient.

The meteorological service of the Philippines was reorganized by Father Algué. The observatory at Manila receives observations by telegraph three times a day from eight first-class and nine second-class stations throughout the islands. Eighteen stations of the third class telegraph their observations twice a day, while ten fourth-class stations record observations and telegraph on request. The observatory has a branch at Mt. Mirador, about 5000 feet above sea level, which telegraphs its observations three times a day. Reports are also received twice each day by cable, from ten stations in Japan, from six in Formosa, from four on the Chinese coast, and from three in Indo-China. Whenever there are indications of a typhoon, cablegrams are exchanged with the stations in Guam and Yap, and on such occasions as many as a half-a-dozen or more messages may be cabled on a single day to all the foreign stations. The observatory, besides a rich equipment of the latest meteorological instruments and seismographs, possesses a 19-inch refracting telescope, by far the largest in the Orient. It also has its own private telegraph and cable office. The staff of the observatory at Manila includes five Jesuit fathers and twenty-five well-trained native assistants.

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Further reading

• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Manila Observatory". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

• Media related to Manila Observatory at Wikimedia Commons
• Manila Observatory official website
• Manila Observatory: A Stellar Legacy by Bamm Gabriana