The problem of the moon's orbit was one that Leonhard Euler (1707 83) returned to repeatedly throughout his life. It provided a testing ground for Newton's theory of gravitation. Could the motion of the moon be entirely accounted for by Newton's theory? Or, as Euler initially suspected, did other forces need to be invoked? For practical purposes, if the moon's orbit could be accurately predicted, its motion would provide the universal timekeeper required to solve the longitude problem. In addition to the mathematical 'three-body problem', a topic still under investigation today, Euler was...

Famous for his metal prosthetic nose, and for being associated with 'unlucky' days in Scandinavian folklore, Tycho Brahe (1546 1601) made the most accurate naked-eye astronomical measurements of his day. Cataloguing more than 1,000 new stars, his stellar and planetary observations helped lay the foundations of early modern astronomy. John Louis Emil Dreyer (1852 1926) was a fellow Dane, but he spent much of his working life in Ireland. When he was fourteen, he had read a book about Brahe and this inspired him to 'be an astronomer and nothing else'. First published in 1890, Dreyer's biography...

Founded as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820, this illustrious organisation received its royal charter in 1831. It has counted some of the world's greatest astronomers among its members, most notably its first president, Sir William Herschel, whose family archive forms part of its extensive library. Now based in Burlington House in Piccadilly, it continues to publish journals, award medals and prizes, and support education and outreach work. Following the society's centenary, this survey of its history appeared in 1923 and comprises contributions from leading astronomers of the early...

Although his yeoman father is said to have burnt his books to discourage excessive studiousness, Thomas Wright (1711-86) nevertheless acquired considerable knowledge in the fields of mathematics, navigation and astronomy. Later benefitting from the patronage of wealthy families, he also surveyed estates, designed gardens, and tutored aristocrats. He is best known, however, for his contribution to astronomy: this illustrated work of 1750 was his most famous publication. Written in the form of nine letters, the book quotes both poets and scientists in the opening discussion as Wright sets out...

Long before their western counterparts, Chinese astronomers developed remarkably accurate methods for making their measurements, recording detailed observations since ancient times. Of particular interest to John Williams (1797-1874), assistant secretary to the Royal Astronomical Society, were Chinese observations of comets. Noting that previous translations of these records had been incomplete, Williams sought to produce a fuller catalogue. The present work, published in 1871, presents Chinese comet observations between 611 BCE and 1640 CE, using the encyclopaedia of Ma Duanlin and the great...

Born in rural Wales, to which he always felt a close connection, Joseph Harris (c.1704-64) moved to London in 1724, presenting the Astronomer Royal, Edmond Halley, with a testimonial of his mathematical ability. Harris then found work as an astronomer and teaching of navigation; his observations of magnetism and solar eclipses taken in Vera Cruz in 1726 and 1727 were relayed to the Royal Society by Halley. Harris' illustrated introduction to the solar system was originally printed for the instrument-maker Thomas Wright and the globe-maker Richard Cushee; it is here reissued in its 1731 first...

Descended from French Protestants who had emigrated to Geneva, Leopold de Saussure (1866 1925) began his career in the French navy. Before retiring with the rank of lieutenant in 1899, he had learned Chinese and how to accurately observe the stars. The study of ancient Chinese astronomy then became the focus of his scholarly energies, and he made a number of significant contributions. Posthumously published in 1930, this work gathers together eleven of the twelve articles that originally appeared in the journal T'oung Pao between 1907 and 1922. In his preface, the French orientalist Gabriel...

This 1893 French work reviews the history of ancient Greek astronomy, with its focus on theories expounded in Ptolemy's Almagest.