Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Alfred Barrett Biggs
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1825–1900
History
Alfred Barrett Biggs (1825-1900), teacher, bank officer, astronomer and inventor, was born on 10 April 1825 in London. He arrived in V.D.L. in 1833 with his family. In 1877 Biggs learned of the invention of the telephone. He then constructed a pair of telephones and had them connected between Launceston and Campbell Town, successfully transmitting sounds between the two locations. It has been claimed that this was the first telephone connection in Australia. He had an interest in astronomy and in 1879 he moved to Launceston and set up an observatory in Royal Park . Biggs was a diligent and pedantic observer and contributed reports to the local newspaper and from 1884 papers to the Royal Society of Tasmania, of which he was that year elected a fellow. He made observations and measurements of comets, double stars, eclipses and transits of Mercury and Venus (another transit of Venus occurred in 1882).
For more information see : http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/biggs-alfred-barrett-12798