GREAT ASTRONOMERS

by SIR ROBERT S. BALL D.Sc. LL.D. F.R.S.

Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry in the
University of Cambridge

Author of "In Starry Realms" "In the High Heavens" etc.


[PLATE: GREENWICH OBSERVATORY.]



PREFACE.



It has been my object in these pages 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.

There are many types of astronomers--from the stargazer who merely
watches the heavens, to the abstract mathematician who merely
works at his desk; it has, consequently, been necessary in the
case of some lives to adopt a very different treatment from that
which seemed suitable for others.