Great Astronomers

by Robert Stawell Ball

"Of all the natural sciences there is not one which offers such sublime objects to the attention of the inquirer as does the science of astronomy. From the earliest ages the study of the stars has exercised the same fascination as it possesses at the present day." - Sir Robert S. Ball

Genres: Science, Biography, School, Astronomy, History, Nonfiction, Physics

388 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

Sir Robert Stawell Ball was an Irish astronomer. He worked for Lord Rosse from 1865 to 1867. In 1867 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. In 1874 Ball was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin at Dunsink Observatory.[1] In 1892 he was appointed Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge University. His lectures, articles and books (eg. Starland and The Story of the Heavens) were mostly popular and simple in style. However, he also published books on mathematical astronomy such as A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy. His main interest was mathematics and he devoted much of his spare time to his "Screw theory". He served for a time as President of the Quaternion Society. His work The Story of the Heavens is mentioned in the "Ithaca" chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses.

Reviews

[Miriam]

This book wasn't my favorite. It was very dry and didn't include a lot of modern astronomers. It was confusing for me to go back and forth between biographical information to technical details.

[Denise Nader]

Confieso que a ratos me aburrí con ciertos capítulos, pero el audiolibro que escuché se puede conseguir gratuitamente porque es de dominio público y gracias a eso pude conocer el trabajo de muchos astrónomos que no fueron las súper estrellas del equipo, pero sus contribuciones llevaron un paso adelante a la disciplina y permitieron que otras estrellas brillaran.

[quinnlyn]

4/12/26: read for Ambleside online year 10; it's pretty cool to see how small the world of physics/mathematics/astronomy/science in general truly is, especially in the 18th-19th century, and the fact that they were able to make so many amazing discoveries with limited resources and without modern technology is pretty astonishing.
I'm generally not super interested in science, but this book (and its brilliant biography format) encouraged me to stop taking it for granted and to open my mind in a way that I don't tend towards.

[Jessica Roberts]

It's a good beginning.

The work is intensely centered on European astronomers, particularly British Astronomers. I particularly would have liked more detailed bios on the earlier astronomers. Nonetheless, it is a good start for those who know little, and a good jumping off point for those who seek to do more detailed research.

[Dilek]

•Hiperkos, "Trigonometrinin, ekinoksun keşfi"
•Batlamyus, "Geometrik zekası ve dünyanın dönüşü üzerine düşünmesi",
•Kopernik, "Dünya'nın Güneşin ve kendi ekseninin etrafında dönmesi"
•Tycho, "Yıldızların arasındaki açısal uzaklıkların tespiti"
•Galileo, "Termometre icadı, teleskop icadı"
•Kepler, " Gezegenler ve onların Güneş etrafındaki dönüşlerini tamamlayabilme süreleriyle ilişkisi"
•Newton, "Renklerle ışığın yapısını ortaya çıkarması"
•Flamsteed, "Güneş tutulmasının keşfi"
•Halley, "Yıldızların konumu üzerine çalışmalar"
•Bradley "Güneş ile Dünya arasındaki mesafenin hesaplanması"
•William Herschel, "Uranüs'ün keşfi"
•Laplace, "Newton kanunlarını matematiğe uyarlama"
•Brinkley, "Büyük teleskobun icadı"
•Herschel, "Çift yıldızlar araştırması"
•Ross Kontu, "Trleskopla yaptığı gözlemler"
•Ellie, "Astigmatı önleyici mercekler"
•William Hamilton, "Optikteki çalışmaları"
•Leverrier, "Matematiksel hesapla gök cisimlerinin çekimi"
•Adams, "Dünya ve Ay'ın yörüngeleri"

[Björn Van]

Really cool reading the history of astronomy from the point of view of an astronomer that himself is history. I really like the chapters where he went really in depth into the scientific breakthroughs they made, but also very much disliked the stories of astronomers who he put to much on a pedestal namely Hamilton. After just finishing it, all I know is that he was a genius boy, but through the way he wrote I have no idea about the actual breakthroughs he made possible. Anyway fun read, and on parallel you can listen to the story in the public domain.

[Diba Kazi]

"Great Astronomers" written by an astronomer is a homage to the great men in the past. It takes you right to the start from the skies of Ptolemy to Adams. Some known astronomers like Copernicus, Galileo to some unknowns like the sir of The Earl of Rosse. It was delight to read about their lives and makes you wonder really - how did they know what they know! I definitely recommend it !

[Krystal]

dnf - homeschool book that only required some chapters

[Chetto]

Gökyüzü sevdalısı herkezin okuması gereken bir kitap.O dönemlere gidiyor ve bilim adamlarının ne zorluklar yaşadıklarını anlıyorsunuz.

[Kate]

Really good information on historical astronomers. The information here helped me when reading “A Brief History of Time” and other books on astronomy and even longitude.

[Ross]

Written 125 years ago, I cannot recommend it. The style of the writing vacillates between tendentious, flowery, pompous and gushing over the author's subjects. I did finish the book, however, so my rule is to give it 2 stars.

I will mention how I came to obtain the book by chance for those who use, or plan to use e-books.
I happened upon a site called the Gutenberg Project which offers over 50,000 books, all free and with no expiration date. Worth investigating for good books in the public domain.

[Mms Mamdouh Al Shamy]

Exposing the scientific discoveries by showing the life aspects of scientists.

[Katrina]

This was a basic overview. It was a bit dry but it moved along quickly. I liked that several Astronomers were covered not just the mainstream names.

[Firat Tarman]

Bu kitabın 1895'de yazıldığını unutmayın...

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