 In 1833 the British Association for the Advancement of Science commissioned a series of magnetic measurements across the United Kingdom . Under the direction of Major Edward Sabine of the Royal Artillery , a multi @-@ year measuring project began , with the results to be published in 1838 . As the measurements were being made a number of proposals were put forth to expand the program worldwide . In 1836 the German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt wrote to Prince Augustus Frederick , Duke of Sussex , then President of the Royal Society , stating that a formal program was important to a nation with dominions spread across the globe . At the seventh meeting of the British Association in Liverpool in 1837 , Sabine declared that " the magnetism of the earth cannot be counted less than one of the most important branches of the physical history of the planet we inhabit " and mapping its variations would be " regarded by our contemporaries and by <unk> as a fitting enterprise of a maritime people ; and a worthy achievement of a nation which has ever sought to rank foremost in every <unk> undertaking " . 
