Edmond Halley | |
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Portrait by Richard Phillips, before 1722
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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.