The Great Astronomers

What it is

This is a popular book by Sir Robert S. Ball, Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Cambridge, who also wrote In Starry Realms and In the High Heavens. It presents the lives of many astronomers, and Tycho Brahe is one of them, with a chapter about him.

Ball's preface says he tried to show each astronomer's character and surroundings, as well as the main features of their discoveries. He also notes that astronomers range from stargazers who only watch the heavens to abstract mathematicians who work at their desks, so each life needed a different kind of treatment.

Why it matters

Because Ball wrote after Tycho's time, this is a secondary source. It tells us how Ball understood Tycho and his fellow astronomers, not what Tycho himself wrote. The preface states that some sketches first appeared in the magazine Good Words, and that the chapter on Brinkley drew on a history of Dunsink Observatory.

Look closer

• Which astronomers does Ball choose to include, and what might that choice suggest about whom he admired?
• Ball says he wants readers to understand each man's character and surroundings. Does a chapter like this show the person, or mainly the discoveries?
• What might a popular book leave out about astronomers, including Tycho, that a reader would need to check in other sources?