Robert Stawell Ball

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Sir Robert Ball (1905) by Leslie Ward
Sir Robert Ball (1905) by Leslie Ward
"Robert Ball" redirects here. For the American government official, see Robert M. Ball.

Sir Robert Stawell Ball (July 1, 1840-November 25, 1913) was an Irish astronomer to Lord Rosse in 1865 and Irish Astronomer-Royal in 1874. In 1892 he was appointed Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge University. His lectures, articles and books (eg. Starland and The Story of the Heavens) were popular and simple in style. His main interest was mathematics and he devoted much of his spare time to his "Theory of Screws". He served for a time as President of the Quaternion Society (1899 - 1913). His work The Story of the Heavens is mentioned in the "Ithaca" chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses.

[edit] References

  • This article incorporates text from The Modern World Encyclopædia: Illustrated (1935); out of UK copyright as of 2005.

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