John Flamsteed FRS ( August 19, 1646 - December 31, 1719 ) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. He catalogued over 3000 stars. Flamsteed was born in Denby, Derbyshire, England, the only son of Stephen Flamsteed and his first wife, Mary Spadman. He was educated at the free school of Derby, and was educated at Derby School, in St Peter's Churchyard, Derby, near where his father carried on a malting business. On 4 March 1675 Flamsteed was appointed by royal warrant "The King's Astronomical Observator" - the first English Astronomer Royal, with an allowance of GBP100 a year. The warrant stated his task as "rectifieing the Tables of the motions of the Heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to find out the so much desired Longitude of places for Perfecteing the Art of Navigation". In June 1675, another royal warrant provided for the founding of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and Flamsteed laid the foundation stone on 10 August.In February 1676, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in July, he moved into the Observatory where he lived until 1684, when he was finally appointed priest to the parish of Burstow, near Crawley in Surrey. He held that office, as well as that of Astronomer Royal, until his death.
Author Biography
Sir Robert Stawell Ball FRS (July 1, 1840 - November 25, 1913) was an Irish astronomer who founded the screw theory. He was the son of naturalist Robert Ball and Amelia Gresley Hellicar. He was born in Dublin. Ball worked for Lord Rosse from 1865 to 1867. In 1867 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. There he lectured on mechanics and published an elementary account of the science. In 1874 Ball was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin at Dunsink Observatory. In 1908 he published A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy, which is a textbook on astronomy starting from spherical trigonometry and the celestial sphere, considering atmospheric refraction and aberration of light, and introducing basic use of a generalised instrument.
