Dimensions
161 x 241 x 25mm
The brief, brilliant life of the father of British astronomy, published to coincide with the transit of Venus - the rare celestial event he discovered.
This is the missing chapter in the history of astronomy, brilliantly told by Peter Aughton, author of 'Endeavour'. It lies between the work of Galileo and Newton and is a chapter that belongs to England. Most people would name the likes of Newton and Edmond Halley as the greatest British astronomers, but both men drew on the works of Jeremiah Horrocks. In the period before the English Civil War, Horrocks was the greatest astronomer in the kingdom. He was the first man to see the image of Venus on the face of the Sun. He knew the positions and motions of the planets more accurately than any person of his time. He was the first to appreciate the true scale of the solar system and the first to formulate a valid theory for the wanderings of the moon. Yet he was not an elderly grey-bearded sage, he was a young man living in provincial obscurity, full of youth and vitality, who on his death had barely come of age, but who left a great scientific legacy. Peter Aughton's scientific and narrative skills vividly describe the story of the early discoveries in astronomy and ably illustrate Horrocks's importance.
