Edmund Halley
Edmund Halley was a British Astronomer who lived from 1656-1742. He was born in Haggerston, Shoreditch, England. He was the first person to calculate a comet's orbit. He attended Oxford University where he studied theories of Sir Isaac Newton. Halley made multiple important observations while attending Oxford, including an occulation of Mars by the Moon on June 11, 1676. In 1676, he gave up his studies and sailed to St Helena in November of that year. To make this journey, Halley received much needed financial aid and received it from his father and King Charles II. The king also provided a letter asking the East India Company to take Halley and a colleague to St. Helena, which is the most southern portion or Britain’s territory. While making observations in St Helena, the conditions of the sky turned out less than spectacular and disappointed Halley immensely. Even with these difficulties, Halley still proposed using transits of Mercury to determine the distance of the sun which resulted in the scale of the solar system with the use of Kepler’s third law. Sir Isaac Newton’s theories inspired him to write the book Principle which he published with his own money in 1687. In 1698 he was given the command of Paramour, so he could explore the south atlantic and govern laws regaurding the compass. In 1703, Halley was appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxofrd and received an honorary degree of doctor of laws in 1710. In the year 1721 at the age of 65, Edmund was named Astonomer Royal and began an 18 year study of the moon's complete revolution through its ascending and decsending nodes. In 1684, Halley made his first visit to Isaac Newton in Cambridge which started his promenent role in the development of the gravitation. Halley created the first meteorological chart by showing the distribution of prevailing winds over the oceans. Halley was married in 1682 to Mary Tooke who turned out to be a financial burden. Around the same time, his father also got remarried. 10 years after the death of his first wife. So financial stress on both men showed to be detrimental (loss of financial support from his father and no financial funds himself). Before the disappearance of his father, Halley had just applied Kepler’s third law was the inverse square law of attraction and presented the results when at the meeting of the Royal Society in January 1684. In 1701 he published the first magnetic charts of the Atlantic Ocean and some of the Pacific, which showed curved lines that indicated the same compass directions a a a a a a during Edmund's life, he was greatly influenced by Francis Bacon and other astronomers from that day. He wisely assessed Newton's work and his persistence in completion earned him a place in western thought. Edmond Halley became most well known for being the first man to recognize the recurring astronomical object called Halley’s Comet. Halley became a professor at Oxford in 1704 and after succeeded Flamsteed as Royal Astronomer in 1720. From around 1695 Halley was carefully studied the orbits of the comets. When his calculations of the comets were accurate, many years after he died, Halley’s comet was named after him because of his accomplishments involving Astronomy. a aa a a a a a a a a a a a a In November of 1698 Halley sailed from Portsmouth with his crew but problems, mostly technical forced him to return after he reached Barbados. In September 1699 he sailed again making a thorough exploration of the Atlantic shores. Halley was appointed Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford in 1704 following the death of Wallis. In 1701, Halley investigated the tides and coasts of southern England. V v v v vv v v v v vv v v v v v v v vv Using Ptolemy’s catalogue, Halley deduced that the stars must have small motions of their own and he was able to detect the proper motion in three stars. Halley played an active role in the events and controversies of his time. He supported Newton in his controversy with Leibniz over who invented the calculus. Cc c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
