Edmund Halley: Scientific Giant

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Skywatchers in ages past trembled at the approach of a comet. Where superstition was widespread, any unusual object in the night sky could send a wave of terror through the population. Thought to be harbingers of disaster, comets were typically associated with the death of a king or a defeat in battle.

Superstition and fear had no grip on the character of Edmund Halley, who successfully plotted the orbit of the comet that bears his name. He was stimulated instead by scientific curiosity and a deep desire to extend the bounds of knowledge. At the age of 20 Halley wrote: ‘I would very willingly do something to serve me generation. For the next 66 years he delighted in exploring the fields of astronomy and physics, navigation, natural science, and mathematics.

Born in Haggerston, near London, Halley was the son of a prosperous soap-boiler. The boy was fortunate to have a father who was able to give him a good education at St. Paul’s School and Oxford University. The senior Halley also had sufficient interest and faith in his gifted son to provide the scientific apparatus the lad wanted as well as a generous allowance when he suddenly decided to leave Oxford before taking his degree. Young Halley’s eagerness to set off on a voyage to the distant South Atlantic island of St. Helena to chart the stars of the southern hemisphere would have seemed a foolish scheme to most fathers. But Edmund’s patient parent apparently understood that his son’s love of learning might not always allow him to follow conventional channels.

On hearing of Edmund Halley’s desire to chart the southern stars, King Charles II ordered the East India Company to convey the 20-year-old astronomer, his companion, and their equipment on the next ship bound for St. Helena. It required a three-month voyage to span the distance that a jet flight can accomplish in a few hours today. After long days at sea the youthful astronomers set up a temporary observatory on a mountain and were ready to begin charting the stars. The weather proved to be a frustrating obstacle. It rained, it was cloudy, and fog hovered round the volcanic isle.

Finally, after a full year, the young men were able to return to England with a chart of 341 stars that are not visible in the northern hemisphere. Letters from the King to Oxford University, giving a good account of Halley’s learning in mathematics and astronomy, resulted in him being granted the degree of Master of Arts. At the age of 22 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Edmund Halley was on his way to being a friend of kings, an associate of the great scientists of the day.

Foreign travel often seemed to be on Halley’s agenda. One year after the expedition to St. Helena, he was off to Danzig (now Gdansk, in Poland) where the renowned astronomer Hevelius had constructed some of the finest telescopes ever seen. Later, in 1680, he embarked on a Grand Tour of France and Italy. Along the way he observed the Great Comet of 1680 and visited the Paris Observatory.

In Paris Halley became interested in the vital statistics of the city. He drew up tables of age and mortality in a normal population. This pioneer work in statistics laid the foundation for the theory of annuities and life insurance. From his study of tables of births and deaths, Halley concluded: The Growth and Increase of Mankind is not so much stinted by any thing in the Nature of the Species, as it is from the cautious difficulty most People make to adventure on the State of Marriage, from the Prospect of the Trouble and Charge of providing for a Family. He further observed that Celibacy ought to be discouraged, and those who have numerous Families of Children to be countenanced and encouraged….

Soon after his return to England Halley himself decided to adventure on the State of Marriage. He and Mary Tooke were married in 1682, the same year that Halley spotted the comet that would eventually bear his name. The comet sped off into space but Mary remained close to her ingenious husband for the remaining 55 years of her life. The couple set up housekeeping at Islington and in time three children completed the family. Halley equipped a small private observatory and, among other projects, began working on the problem of longitude, a subject that would tantalize him as long as he lived.

Tags: British Heritage, Historical Discoveries, Historical Figures, Science & Engineering

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