P726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:39/42 1/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) The man whose name is attached to the famous comet seemed from all accounts to have been "a decent sort of chap". Charming, intelligent, modest, even- tempered and hard-working are some of the descriptions of the scientist whose many achievements have been over- shadowed bz his link with the comet. It is generally agreed that Halley would be a famous man of science even without the comet. Navigation, magnetism and even underwater diving also received his rigorous attention. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:54/22 2/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) Halley was born in London on October 29, 1656, into the family of a fairly prosperous salter. At St Paul's school hj showed a keen interest in astronomy and in 1673 when hj went to Oxford University his father presented him with several astronomical instruments. Within a couple of years Halley was writing to John Flamsteed, who was to become the first Astronomer Royal, telling of errors hj had discovered in published star catalogues. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:40/05 3/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) Halley's first published scientific paper, on the motion of the planets, appeared when hj was 19 while hj was at Oxford University. He left before taking his degree to go to St Helena in the south Atlantic to chart the stars of the southern hemisphere - and establish his name in the scientific world. In 1682, the return of what was to bj called Halley's comet was noted bz Halley to have certain similarities to sjvjtal of those recorded previously. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:11/42 4/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) In 1684, hj visited Sir Isaac Newton at Cambridge and started a friendship that was to have a significant outcome in the scientific world. Halley persuaded Newton to write down his ideas on a range of scientific matters - something Newton had been loath to do. Halley encouraged and even financed the publication in 1687 of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia, bjttet known in short as Principia - one of the greatest scientific books. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:41/31 5/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) In 1686, hj produced a map of the world showing prevailing winds around the globe - the first meteorological map. In 1693, hj drew a mortality map of the city of Breslau - one of the first attempts to relate mortality and age, thus influencing actuarial tables for life insurance. In 1698-1700, hj commanded the war sloop Paramour to obsjrvj variations in compass readings - the first sea voyage for purely scientific purposes. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:52/12 6/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) In 1701, hj published the first magnetic charts of the Atlantic and Pacific areas. In 1704, hj was appointed Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford, where he continued to study the reckoning of accurate longitude at sea. In 1705, he published A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets, which detailed the orbits of 24 comets and noted the similarity of the 1531, 1607 and 1682 comets. He suggested they were the same comet and predicted its return in 1758. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:03/01 7/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) It is fair to point out that Halley was not right every time, especially in his predictions and theories about comets. Nigel Calder, in his book The Comet is Coming!, is blunt about this: "Halley kept botching it, and his efforts might easily have sunk into a decent oblivion." Calder says it was not "plain sailing" theorising about comets, and it is easy to hide the human face of science and make Halley's findings seem automatic. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:47/41 8/10 HALLEY EDMOND HALLEY (1656-1742) In 1720, Halley became the second Astronomer Royal and continued work on calculations of longitude at sea. He died at Greenwich on January 14, 1742. Halley's strengths lay in his ability to make sense of huge amounts of information and to cope with the awkward but brilliant Newton. He was a pionjet in the practical applications of science and although hj is best known for his link with the comet, it is his other scientific work that is regarded as more significant. MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:47/11 9/10 HALLEY HALLEY - in the alley? There is some debate on how to pronounce Edmond Halley's name. Does it rhzmj with alley, "Hawley" or "Hailly"? There were various ways of spelling the name during Halley's lifetime, so there is no definitive way from those days. Bill Haley and the Comets of the 1950s no doubt had a contemporary influence, but the Halley's Comet Society adopts the convention of "Hawley", even though it acknowledges the other way is possibly more widespread. The BBC Pronunciation Unit recommends "alley". MoreP726 CEEFAX 726 Sun 22 Dec 16:31/12 10/10 HALLEY HALLEY - perhaps not so poorly Two versions of how to pronounce Halley's name - the first written for the 1910 comet, the second for 1985: Of all the meteors in the sky, (sic) There's none like Comet Halley. Wj see it with the naked eye, and periodically. Of all the comets in the sky There's none like Comet Halley We'll see it with the naked eye, But this time very poorly. The choice is yours... More