It was 1678...but I remember it like it was yesterday. Way back in 1678 Edmond Halley received his MA from The Queen's College in Oxford. He was a very respected mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He is most famous for discovering the orbit of his namesake's comet, but he did much more than that.
In 1676 Halley voyaged to St Helena in the southern
hemisphere where he cataloged more than 300 stars and published about it later that year. As a result he was elected a fellow of the Royal
Society. The Royal Society is a group that has met since the mid 1600's to promote scientific discovery.
Halley was instrumental in bringing Issac Newton's
discoveries on planetary motion to publication, editing and overseeing the
printing of Newton's "Principia" in 1687. The book is very good. The movie only got so-so reviews.
IN 1705 Halley published his own work A Synopsis of the
Astronomy of Comets, in which he detailed the orbits of known comets and made
the case that 3 were actually the same comet returning. He also successfully
predicted its return in 1758.
Halley passed away at in 1742 at the age of 85. His comet continues to pass by about every 75 years. It will next be visible in 2061. Please put that on your calendar.
Aye, me fadders family is well acquainted with Halley's Comet and other seen-flying-at-night stuff. Me great-great grandparents: Henry Barnhart and Mary Meisener, on me great grandfather's father's side; and David Fry and Susan Ridenour on me great great grandmothers side, all born in the late 1740s, somewhere in Pennsylvania or thereabouts could've seen it, thinkin' it was the end of the world. Heard tell Susan hid under the bed for several days, coaxed out only because the kids were nigh near starved to death.
ReplyDeleteThen, me great grand parents David G. Barnhart and Margaret V. Fry, born in Maryland, born in 1832 and 1833, respectively, were but two and three years old in 1835, when Halley's comet roared by again, but spending a good deal of time outdoors as children did back then, I maybe safe to suggest they too witnessed its flyover, oooing and ahhhing for reasons they couldn't explain.
Me grandparents Charles C. Reynolds and Anna L Barnhart, 1869 & 1872, were middle aged adults in 1910, when they and all the neighbors positioned their lawn chairs in a circle, carried out a good-sized table to put food onto, laid blankets in the grass for the children, in preparation for its long awaited sighting from their backyard in Hagerstown, Maryland. Charles, a policeman for a short while on the Hagerstown Police Force, was likely patrolling his beat, watching for an outbreak of pandemonium or other silly behaviors associated with Halley's comet.
I was but a lad meself, in 1986, likely working at the toy factory, on nights, like I did for 20-some years, but I guess I didn't miss any more than anyone else for, according to what I understand, it was on the wrong side of the sun for earthlings to see it clearly. I have my calendar marked for 2061. "Keep family tradition alive: Watch for Halley's Comet!
'Halley's Big Shooter' was seen by ; & David Fry and Susan Ridenour in 1758, me great grandparents David Barnhart and Margret Fry in 1929; me grandparents Charles Reynolds and Anna Barnhart in