A BLUE plaque will commemorate a Victorian instrument maker from York.
Thomas Cooke, an internationally renowned scientific instrument maker, will be honoured with a blue plaque which will be attached to the observatory in the York Museum gardens on Friday at 11:30am.
The plaque will be unveiled by York Civic Trust, York Museums Trust and Yorkshire Philosophical Society in memory of the machinist, who died in 1868.
Cooke gained national and international recognition for his telescopes, including two First Class Medals at the 1862 Great Exhibition in London. He was also an elected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Duncan Marks, interim executive manager at York Civic Trust, said: “The career of Thomas Cooke continues to have appeal today.
“He was a self-taught and self-made man who designed and built machines that directly expanded knowledge in diverse fields of endeavour as astronomy, civil engineering, communications and medicine.”
York Civic Trust has been placing commemorative plaques to places and people since the late 1940s.
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