an Irish mathematician, Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. He worked in both pure mathematics and mathematics for physics. He made important contributions to optics, classical mechanics and algebra. Although Hamilton was not a physicist–he regarded himself as a pure mathematician–his work was of maj...

an Irish mathematician, Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. He worked in both pure mathematics and mathematics for physics. He made important contributions to optics, classical mechanics and algebra. Although Hamilton was not a physicist–he regarded himself as a pure mathematician–his work was of major importance to physics, particularly his reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. This work has proven central to the modern study of classical field theories such as electromagnetism, and to the development of quantum mechanics. In pure mathematics, he is best known as the inventor of quaternions.

an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to the British Isles. Harriot was the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on 26 July 1609, over four months before more

an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to the British Isles. Harriot was the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on 26 July 1609, over four months before Galileo Galilei.

a British blacksmith, astronomer, navigator, economist, natural philosopher, government adviser and King's Assay Master at the Royal Mint. As far as biographies of Joseph Harris are concerned, things remain much the same now as they had been in 1805, when Theophilus Jones was writing. The Harris family history of three brothers, all highly successful in enti...

a British blacksmith, astronomer, navigator, economist, natural philosopher, government adviser and King's Assay Master at the Royal Mint. As far as biographies of Joseph Harris are concerned, things remain much the same now as they had been in 1805, when Theophilus Jones was writing. The Harris family history of three brothers, all highly successful in entirely unrelated avocations, has until now concentrated on the youngest of the three, Howell Harris, known as the Apostle of Wales. But now, three hundred years after his birth, attention may be paid to Joseph, the polymath eldest son of this extraordinary family.

an English astronomer. Hartgill was in considerable repute during Elizabeth I's reign, from his knowledge of the stars and his skill in astrology. He designated himself "minister of the word", and may therefore have been a Protestant preacher. Hartgill published Generall Calendars in 1594. It was dedicated to William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, and d...

an English astronomer. Hartgill was in considerable repute during Elizabeth I's reign, from his knowledge of the stars and his skill in astrology. He designated himself "minister of the word", and may therefore have been a Protestant preacher. Hartgill published Generall Calendars in 1594. It was dedicated to William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, and dated "from my Studie at your Lordshippe's Manor of Checkerell", i.e. Chickerell in Dorset, "the last of August 1594". A second edition was published in 1656 by T. & J. Gadbury.

a German-born British astronomer, composer, and brother of Caroline Herschel. His interest in astronomy grew stronger after he made the acquaintance of the English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies ...

a German-born British astronomer, composer, and brother of Caroline Herschel. His interest in astronomy grew stronger after he made the acquaintance of the English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos, as well as some church music.

a French physicist, astronomer. mathematician and engineer who made important measurements of the mechanical equivalent of heat and contributions to the early development of thermodynamics. He further applied his science in the practical development of steam engines. At 19, he entered his grandfather's cotton factory as a chemist. Later he worked as an engin...

a French physicist, astronomer. mathematician and engineer who made important measurements of the mechanical equivalent of heat and contributions to the early development of thermodynamics. He further applied his science in the practical development of steam engines. At 19, he entered his grandfather's cotton factory as a chemist. Later he worked as an engineer, and began research on mechanics, especially on calorics.

an English publisher and amateur astronomer. After a number of years of achieving considerable success in daguerrotypy, he worked on telescopic and microscopic observations. In 1852 he built an observatory at Claybury, in Essex, in which a 6-inch refractor was mounted equatorially. In 1854 he designed the diagonal eye-piece for observing the whole of the Su...

an English publisher and amateur astronomer. After a number of years of achieving considerable success in daguerrotypy, he worked on telescopic and microscopic observations. In 1852 he built an observatory at Claybury, in Essex, in which a 6-inch refractor was mounted equatorially. In 1854 he designed the diagonal eye-piece for observing the whole of the Sun's disc without contraction of the aperture of the object-glass, a description of which appeared in the Monthly Notices of that year.

a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was from a prominent Rhode Island family, the grandson of William Hopkins who served the colony for 40 years as Deputy, Assistant, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and Major. His great gr...

a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was from a prominent Rhode Island family, the grandson of William Hopkins who served the colony for 40 years as Deputy, Assistant, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and Major. His great grandfather Thomas Hopkins was an original settler of Providence Plantation, sailing from England in 1635 with his cousin Benedict Arnold who became the first governor of the Rhode Island colony under the Royal Charter of 1663.

an English clergyman and astronomer. In his clerical capacity he published several sermons, but his magnum opus was a revised edition of the Bible with "a brief hermeneutic and exegetical commentary", published in two volumes in 1843–1845. His astronomical observations resulted in a series of letters, papers, and notes, including one on the rotation of Ven...

an English clergyman and astronomer. In his clerical capacity he published several sermons, but his magnum opus was a revised edition of the Bible with "a brief hermeneutic and exegetical commentary", published in two volumes in 1843–1845. His astronomical observations resulted in a series of letters, papers, and notes, including one on the rotation of Venus, as well as drawings of sun spots, presented to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1847.