Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley
Portrait by Richard Phillips, before 1722
Born	8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1656 Haggerston, Middlesex, England
Died	25 January 1742 [O.S. 14 January 1741] (aged 85) Greenwich, Kent, England
Resting place	St. Margaret's, Lee, South London
Nationality	English
Fields	Astronomy, geophysics, mathematics, meteorology, physics, cartography
Institutions	University of Oxford Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Alma mater	The Queen's College, Oxford
Spouse	Mary Tooke
Children	Edmond Halley (d. 1741) Margaret (d. 1713) Richelle (d. 1748)

Edmond (or Edmund) Halley, FRS (pronounced /ˈɛdmənd ˈhæli/; 8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1656 – 25 January 1742 [O.S. 14 January 1741]) was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed.

Halley was born in Haggerston, in east London. His father, Edmond Halley Sr., came from a Derbyshire family and was a wealthy soap-maker in London. As a child, Halley was very interested in mathematics. He studied at St Paul's School, and from 1673 at The Queen's College, Oxford. While still an undergraduate, Halley published papers on the Solar System and sunspots.

Halley became an assistant to John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory, in 1675, and among other things, had the job of assigning what is now called Flamsteed numbers to stars.