Great Astronomers

Great Astronomers is a classic astronomer biography collection by R.S. Ball that includes biographical sketches of the following: Ptolemy -- Copernicus -- Tycho Brahe -- Galileo -- Kepler -- Isaac Newton -- Flamsteed -- Halley -- Bradley -- William Herschel -- Laplace -- Brinkley -- John Herschel -- The Earl of Rosse -- Airy -- Hamilton -- Le Verrier -- Adams. It has been my object in these pages of astronomer biography to present the life of each astronomer in such detail as to enable the reader to realise in some degree the man's character and surroundings; and I have endeavoured to indicate as clearly as circumstances would permit the main features of the discoveries by which he has become known.

Sir Robert Stawell Ball FRS (July 1, 1840 – November 25, 1913) was an Irish astronomer who founded the screw theory. He was the son of naturalist Robert Ball and Amelia Gresley Hellicar. He was born in Dublin. Ball worked for Lord Rosse from 1865 to 1867. In 1867 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. There he lectured on mechanics and published an elementary account of the science. In 1874 Ball was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin at Dunsink Observatory. In 1908 he published A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy, which is a textbook on astronomy starting from spherical trigonometry and the celestial sphere, considering atmospheric refraction and aberration of light, and introducing basic use of a generalised instrument.