Edmond Halley

In 1682, Edmond Halley married Mary Tooke, daughter of an auditor of the Exchequer. They had three children; a son, also named Edmond Halley and two daughters. named Margaret and Richelle. They lived in Islington, now a district under Greater London.

Halley died on 25 January 1742, at the age of 85. He was survived by his two daughters. His son Edmond, then a naval surgeon, died a year ago while his wife predeceased him by five years.

Halley was buried at the old church of St Margaret's, Lee. While his marked grave remains in its original place, the tombstone was removed to Camera Obscura at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich when the original church was demolished.

Edmond Halley was born on 8 November 1656 in Haggerston, East London. His father, Edmond Halley Sr. was a wealthy soap-maker, possessing considerable amount of property in the city. He was also a member of the Salters’ Company and a freeman of the City.

Halley Sr. married Edmond’s mother, whose name remains unknown, two months before Edmond Halley’s birth. Subsequently, he had two more children with her; a daughter named Katherine and another son named Humphrey. Edmond’s mother died in 1672, when Edmund was 15 years old.

Starting his education under private tutors at home, Edmond entered St. Paul’s School in 1671. Here, he excelled both in mathematics and classics. It was also here that he first developed his interest in astronomy. His father encouraged him in this by buying him many fine astronomical instruments.

In 1673, Edmond Halley entered Queens College, Oxford. By this time, he had become keenly interested in astronomy, acquiring certain expertise in the subject. He also possessed a large number of finest astronomical instruments. As he moved to Oxford, he took them with him.

Around 1675, Halley was introduced to John Flamsteed, who at that time was working at Royal Greenwich Observatory, compiling a catalogue of northern stars. Halley met him twice at Greenwich, working for him for a short period. It inspired him to compile a list of southern stars.

In November 1676, Edmond Halley left Oxford without acquiring a degree and set sail for the island of St. Helena. While the project was financed by his father, he had the blessings of King Charles II. Many established scientist like Brouncker and Jonas Moore also supported him in this.

At Saint Helena, he set up an observatory with a large sextant with telescopic sights. Although bad weather hampered his work but Edmond Halley was largely successful in his mission. Apart from making numerous pendulum observations and discovering a star cluster in Centaurus, he was able to record the exact position of 341 stars.

Observing the transit of Mercury across the solar disk on 7 November,1677 was another of his major achievements. It led him to realize that by observing a similar transit of Venus across the sun and using Kepler's third law, one could determine the size of the Solar System.

On returning to England in May 1678, Halley published the results of his works as ‘Catalogus Stellarum Australium’. Although he was still an undergraduate and barely twenty-two years old his reputation as an astronomer was instantly established and honors began to pour in.

On 30 November 1678, he was elected a fellow at the Royal Society, making him the youngest ever fellow of the Society. Next on 3 December 1678, on the intervention of the King Charles II, he received his M.A degree from the University of Oxford without taking the degree examination.

In 1679, he was sent to Danzig (Gdańsk) by the Royal Society to resolve a dispute between two senior astronomers, Johannes Hevelius and Robert Hooke. Hooke disputed Havelius’ observations as he made them without using telescopes. After working on them for two months Halley pronounced Havelius’ observations to be true.

Initially, Halley did not seek a teaching post, preferring to be on his own. In 1680, he went on a European tour with Robert Nelson, a school friend. While staying near Calais, he observed a comet. Later he moved to Paris and there, working with Cassini, he tried to determine its orbit.

From France, he moved to Italy, where he stayed for much of 1681. On his return, he started working on Kepler's third law. However, he would take some time before he came to any certain conclusion.