Robert Stawell Ball: 22 books

German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) derived his mathematical laws of planetary motion from astronomical data meticulously collected by Tycho Brahe, who, as he was dying, beseeched young Kepler to use the data to discover the laws of motion of the planets. Based upon Kepler's laws, Sir Isaac...

Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian who has been considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived. His monograph Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in...

John Flamsteed (1646-1719) was an English astronomer, a contemporary of Isaac Newton, and the first Astronomer Royal in charge of the newly built observatory at Greenwich, England (1676). Although he made no great discoveries nor new astronomical theories, Flamsteed distinguished himself by his meticulous...

This is the chapter on 16th century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe from Sir Robert S. Ball's Great Astronomers, second edition, which begins: "The most picturesque figure in the history of astronomy ... Tycho Brahe was alike notable for his astronomical genius and for the extraordinary vehemence...

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism, which held that the...

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a mathematician and astronomer who formulated a comprehensive heliocentric model which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center of the universe, contrary to the prevailing thought at his time which placed the Earth at the center. The publication...

This book contains the following works with an Active Table of Contents -Great Astronomers: Tycho Brahe - Great Astronomers: Johannes Kepler - Great Astronomers: Isaac Newton - Great Astronomers: Nicolaus Copernicus - Great Astronomers: Galileo Galilei - Great Astronomers: John Flamsteed -Great Astronomers:...

Edmond Halley,(1656–1742) was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, following in the footsteps of John Flamsteed. Halley became...

Early Astronomical Observations—The Observatory of Tycho Brahe—The Pupil of the Eye—Vision of Faint Objects—The Telescope—The Object-Glass—Advantages of Large Telescopes—The Equatorial—The Observatory—The Power of a Telescope—Reflecting Telescopes—Lord Rosse's Great Reflector...

First, let us be fully aware of the extraordinary remoteness of that period of which our history treats. To attempt to define that period chronologically would be utterly futile. When we have stated that it is more ancient than almost any other period which we can discuss, we have expressed all that...

I TRY in these lectures to give some account of an exceptionally great subject—a subject, I ought rather to say, of sublime magnificence. It may, I believe, be affirmed without exaggeration that the theme which is to occupy our attention represents the most daring height to which the human intellect...

IT was just a year after the death of Galileo, that an infant came into the world who was christened Isaac Newton. Even the great fame of Galileo himself must be relegated to a second place in comparison with that of the philosopher who first expounded the true theory of the universe. Isaac...

AMONG the ranks of the great astronomers it would be difficult to find one whose life presents more interesting features and remarkable vicissitudes than does that of Galileo. We may consider him as the patient investigator and brilliant discoverer. We may consider him in his private relations, especially...

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865) was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who made important contributions to mechanics, optics, and algebra. As a teenager, he mastered parts of Newton's Principia and studied Laplace's celestial mechanics treatise. When barely 22, Hamilton became...