Throughout the nineteenth century repeated appeals to the Government for direct and regular assistance to Armagh Observatory were refused. Only sporadic, though sometimes generous, lump-sum payments were made, with no continuing commitment.
The mould was finally broken in 1927, when the newly constituted Government of Northern Ireland at Stormont, recognised the important work of the Observatory by making an annual grant of 100 pounds. Though this was barely enough to maintain the fabric of the building it provided a precedent which could be invoked by later requests. At Dunsink, the only other extant Irish observatory, things had fared no better and the Observatory was effectively closed throughout the 1930’s.
The appointment of Dr Eric Lindsay to the directorship of Armagh signalled a change in the fortunes of Irish astronomy. Born in Portadown, Co Armagh and educated at the King’s Hospital School, Dublin and Queen’s University, Belfast, Eric Lindsay was on familiar terms with many of the Irish leaders of his time, both from Northern Ireland and the Republic. He was equally at ease with Mr Eamon De Valera, the Prime Minister of the Republic, and with the unionist leaders from Stormont and with both he was able to use his influence to benefit Irish astronomy.
In the Republic it was partly through his friendship with De Valera that the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies was set up, took over the defunct Dunsink Observatory formally belonging to Trinity College Dublin, and incorporated it into a new section called the School of Cosmic Physics.
In Northern Ireland, he realised that a small institution such as Armagh Observatory, could not hope to prosper without modern equipment and that this could best be provided by collaboration with other institutes. After the end of the second world war he proposed that the two Irish observatories, Armagh and Dunsink, should, combined with Harvard University, build a telescope that would chart the skies of the southern hemisphere. The agreement by the two governments of Ireland to jointly fund this telescope was a triumph of diplomacy for Eric Lindsay and is believed to be the first such agreement between the two governments to cooperate on a joint venture.
