Edmund was born in London on 8 November His father was a wealthy soap-maker. In he went to Oxford University. He left there in and sailed to the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic to chart stars in the Southern Hemisphere.
While he was there Halley also observed a transit of Mercury across the Sun. He returned to England in Halley paid all the expenses, corrected the proofs himself, and brought "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," often referred to as the "Principia" to print in Halley worked for the Royal Society in a number of endeavors.
He edited the Society's journal, "Philosophical Transactions," published some of the world's first actuarial tables , and published a map of the world that showed the prevailing winds over the oceans — in other words, the first meteorological chart. In , he commanded a British naval ship on a scientific expedition. On two voyages, Halley took compass measurements in the South Atlantic and determined accurate longitudes and latitudes of his ports of call.
He also studied the variation between Magnetic North and True North. After the second voyage, he published a map showing isoclines, or points of equal value of deviation. In , Halley was appointed the Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford. Continuing his work in observational astronomy, Halley published "A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets" in In this work, he showed that comet sightings of , , and were so similar that they must have been the same comet returning. He predicted that it would return in In , Halley devised a method for observing transits of Venus across the disk of the sun in order to determine the distance of Earth from the sun.
He also proposed two types of diving bells for exploring underwater. In , by comparing star positions with data recorded by the Greek philosopher Ptolemy, he deduced the motion of stars.
Halley's inaugural lecture proved a great success. It was described by Thomas Hearne see [ 5 ] :- Mr Halley made his inaugural speech on Wednesday May 24 , which very much pleased the generality of the University. After some compliments to the university, he proceeded to the original and progress of geometry, and gave an account of the most celebrated of the ancient and modern geometricians.
This lecture is described in [ 24 ] as In , using Ptolemy 's catalogue, Halley deduced that the stars must have small motions of their own and he believed that he was able to detect this proper motion in three stars. In fact the errors in his data were too large to enable him to do this as Jacques Cassini later demonstrated [ 26 ]. Halley played an active role in the events and controversies of his time. He supported Newton in his controversy with Leibniz over who invented the calculus, serving as secretary of a committee set up by the Royal Society to resolve the dispute.
Halley did much to calm disputes, but also seemed to go out of his way to make his dispute with Flamsteed worse. In he arranged with Newton to publish Flamsteed 's observations long before they were complete.
To make matters worse, Halley wrote a preface, without Flamsteed 's knowledge, in which [ 11 ] In he succeeded Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal, a position he was to hold for 21 years despite being 64 years old when appointed.
Flamsteed 's widow was so angry that she had all her husband's instruments from the Royal Observatory sold so that Halley would not have the use of them. At the Greenwich Royal Observatory Halley used the first transit instrument and devised a method for determining longitude at sea by means of lunar observations. He observed the Moon through one complete 18 -year saros. Earlier observations of the Moon were made only at conjunction or at opposition to the Sun and it was these earlier observations on which Newton 's lunar theory had been based.
However, Halley has been criticised for his work as Astronomer Royal. Some claim that he made valueless observations which were no more accurate than those of Flamsteed. It has also been claimed that Halley's observations were carelessly carried out.
For example in [ 16 ] :- Halley took no account of fractional parts of seconds of time, and considered 10 " of arc 'as the utmost attainable limit of accuracy'. His clocks were besides ill-regulated, and his system of registration unmethodical. In [ 22 ] , however, Ronan argues that the criticisms are unfair. He lists in that article Halley's achievements as Astronomer Royal.
Halley's other activities included studying archaeology, geophysics, the history of astronomy, and the solution of polynomial equations. He was an integral part of the English scientific community at the height of its creativity. References show. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica. P Lancaster-Brown, Halley and his comet N J W Thrower ed. London 16 2 , - London 45 2 , - Histoire Sci. Halley, Moivre, Cotes, Deutsche Math.
Serbe Sci. Arts Glas 42 , - Monthly 5 , - Additional Resources show. Honours show. Cross-references show.
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