Great Astronomers

Great Astronomers is a classic astronomer biography collection by R.S. Ball that includes biographical sketches of the following: Ptolemy -- Copernicus -- Tycho Brahe -- Galileo -- Kepler -- Isaac Newton -- Flamsteed -- Halley -- Bradley -- William Herschel -- Laplace -- Brinkley -- John Herschel -- The Earl of Rosse -- Airy -- Hamilton -- Le Verrier -- Adams. It has been my object in these pages of astronomer biography to present the life of each astronomer in such detail as to enable the reader to realise in some degree the man's character and surroundings; and I have endeavoured to indicate as clearly as circumstances would permit the main features of the discoveries by which he has become known.