The President visited the Greenwich meridian from which the longitude of Earth is measured. It is a thin metal line symbolizing the boundary between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Vladimir Putin also visited the house of John Flamsteed, the first royal astronomer, as well as the gallery of John Harrison, maker of chronometers. The head of state then climbed the tower where Britain’s biggest lens telescope is installed.
Vladimir Putin talked with the staff of the Greenwich Observatory and made an entry in the honoured guests book.
The Royal Observatory was founded in 1675. Throughout the history of astronomy the Greenwich Observatory has played a notable role in science. The Washington Conference of 1884 declared the Greenwich meridian as the reference point of geographical longitude.