Together with his wife, Piazzi Smyth spent the first four months of 1865 camped on the plateau of Giza measuring the Great Pyramid.
His motivation was to gather precise dimensions to prove the tenets of Pyramidology.
He took with him premier instruments for measuring the internal structures but only rudimentary ones for external surveying of the pyramid.
He reinforced his belief that the dimensions of the pyramid had been selected by descendents of Noah who had been guided by God, directly.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh, impressed by his survey results, awarded him their Gold Medal, the Keith Medal. They did, however, specify that the medal was for the precision of his measurements and that it was not an endorsement of his Pyramidology theories.
In the early 1880’s Flinders Petrie made what is still considered today, a seminal survey of the Giza plateau, including all the pyramids and the internal structures of the Great Pyramid. In terms of the latter, his measurements were only fractionally different from those of Piazzi Smyth, yet these two men were polarised against each other in the interpretation of the measurements. Flinders Petrie had no time for the Pyramidology theories.
However, Flinders Petrie’s work fully endorsed the precision of Piazzi Smyth’s internal survey and demonstrated that the Gold Medal was entirely merited.
Dr Bruce Vickery