Edmund Halley

(1656-1742)

-Born on November 8, 1656 (Gregorian)

-Born on October 29, 1656 (Julian)

-In 1673 attended Queen's College, Oxford.

-Was introduced to John Flamsteed, the astronomer royal

-In 1676 he travelled to the South Atlantic

island of St Helena, where Halley could

chart the constellations of the southern hemisphere.

-Halley's star catalogue of 1678 was the first to contain telescopically determined locations of southern stars.

- Mechanical explanation for planetary motion.

- Newton’s 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica‘.

Halley’s Comet

“The comet that was visible in 1531, 1607,

and 1682, would again be observed in 1758”

- 1705 'A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets', in which he described the parabolic orbits of 24 comets that had been observed from 1337 to 1698.

1531 – 1607 – 1682 - 1758

Other Contributions

He applied Newton's laws of motion to all available data and then mathematically demonstrated that comets move in elliptic orbits around the Sun in Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, and also wrote numerous treaties on trigonometry, planetary magnetism, optics, meteors, and orbital & celestial mechanics.

He applied Newton's laws of motion to all available data and then mathematically demonstrated that comets move in elliptic orbits around the Sun in Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, and also wrote numerous treaties on trigonometry, planetary magnetism, optics, meteors, and orbital & celestial mechanics.

In 1720 Halley succeeded Flamsteed as astronomer royal at Greenwich, a position which he held until his death on 14 January 1742.

The End

True or False

1. E. Halley was born on November 8, according to the Julian calendar.

2. In 1678 he published “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”

3. He was named Astronomer Royal, succeeding John Flamsteed.

4. The profecy that he made about the comet coming back came true.

5. Halley was appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University.

6. He died without any recognition on his work.

(F)

(F)

(T)

(T)

(T)

(F)