초록
The royal astronomical observatory compiled the Astronomical Almanac during the Joseon dynasty, though there were some changes of its organization. However, the observatory underwent sudden changes in the late period mainly due to the influence of historical events such as the Gabo (甲午) and The Eulmi (乙未) Reforms in 1894 and 1895, respectively, and the Japanese invasion in 1910. In this paper, we study the changes of the compilation institution of the Korean Astronomical Almanac and of its organization for the period of 1894 to 1912. During this period, the name of the observatory had been changed several times, from Gwansanggam (觀象監) to Gwansangguk (觀象局) in 1894 and to Gwansangso (觀象所) in 1895. In addition, the affair of the Astronomical Almanac compilation was transferred to the Editorial Bureau [編輯局] of the Ministry of Education [學部] and to the Editing Department [編輯課] of the Governor-General of Korea [朝鮮總督府]. In 1907, the Gwansangso was abolished. Moreover, the affair of timekeeping was separated and the official number of personnel was reduced to less than 5% compared to that of Gwansanggam. Consequently, the royal astronomical observatory was significantly reduced in terms of its functions and the organization through the process of those changes. Therefore, we believe that this period is important when seeking to understand the transition between the traditional Astronomical Almanac of the Joseon dynasty and its modern astronomical counterpart of the present day.
