Robert Stawell Ball

Sir Robert Stawell Ball FRS (1 July 1840 – 25 November 1913) was an Irish astronomer[1] who founded the screw theory.

For other people named Robert Ball, see Robert Ball (disambiguation).
Robert Stawell Ball
Born(1840-07-01)1 July 1840
Dublin, Ireland
Died25 November 1913(1913-11-25) (aged 73)
Cambridge, England
NationalityIrish
Alma materUniversity of Dublin
Known forScrew theory
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
Mechanics
Mathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of Dublin
Cambridge Observatory and University of Cambridge

Life

He was the son of naturalist Robert Ball[2] and Amelia Gresley Hellicar. He was born in Dublin.[3] He was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he won a scholarship in 1859 and was a senior moderator in both mathematics and experimental and natural science in 1861.

Ball worked for Lord Rosse from 1865 to 1867. In 1867 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. There he lectured on mechanics and published an elementary account of the science.[4]

In 1873 be became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1874 Ball was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin at Dunsink Observatory.[5]

Ball contributed to the science of kinematics by delineating the screw displacement:

When Ball and the screw theorists speak of screws they no longer mean actual cylindrical objects with helical threads cut into them but the possible motion of any body whatsoever, including that of the screw independently of the nut.[6]

Ball's treatise The Theory of Screws (1876) is now in the public domain.[7] His work on screw dynamics earned him in 1879 the Cunningham Medal of the Royal Irish Academy.[8]

In 1882 Popular Science Monthly carried his article "A Glimpse through the Corridors of Time".[9] The following year it carried his two-part article on "The Boundaries of Astronomy".[10] He was knighted in 1886.

Ball expounded the tides in Time and Tide: a Romance of the Moon[11] In 1892 he was appointed Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge University at the same time becoming director of the Cambridge Observatory. He was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge.

In 1900 Cambridge University Press published A Treatise on the Theory of Screws[12] That year he also published The Story of the Heavens[13] Much in the limelight, he stood as President of the Quaternion Society. He was also President of the Mathematical Association in 1900.[14]

In 1908 he published A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy,[15] which is a textbook on astronomy starting from spherical trigonometry and the celestial sphere, considering atmospheric refraction and aberration of light, and introducing basic use of a generalised instrument.

His work The Story of the Heavens is mentioned in the "Ithaca" chapter of Ulysses. His lectures, articles and books (e.g. Starland and The Story of the Heavens) were mostly popular and simple in style.

He died in Cambridge and was buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife Lady Francis Elizabeth Ball.[16] Their children were: Frances Amelia, Robert Steele, William Valentine (later Sir), Mary Agnetta, Charles Rowan Hamilton, and Randall Gresley (later Colonel). Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball by his son W.V. Ball was published in 1915 by Cassell & Company.[17]

Minor planet 4809 Robertball is named in his honor.[18]

Lectures

Ball became celebrated for his popular lectures on science. He gave an estimated 2500 lectures between 1875 and 1910 in towns and cities across Britain and Ireland.[19][20] In 1881, 1887, 1892, 1898 and 1900 he was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture.[21] Astronomy; Astronomy and Great Chapters from the Book of Nature. In the Lent term of 1900 he gave a lecture entitle 'The Eternal Stars' to the Junior School section of Monkton Combe School in Combe Down, which was reported in the school magazine, The Magpie, 2 March 1900.[22]

References
  1. "Ball, Sir Robert Stawell". Who's Who. 59: 83–84. 1907.
  2. Marché, Jordan D. (2014). "Ball, Robert Stawell". In Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R. (eds.). Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  3. Waterston, C. D.; Shearer, A. Macmillan (2006). "Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783 – 2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  4. R.S. Ball (1871) Experimental Mechanics: A course of lectures delivered at the Royal College of Science for Ireland from Google books
  5. Ball, Robert Stawell from Askaboutireland.ie
  6. Müller-Sievers, Helmut (2012). The Cylinder: Kinematics of the Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 148. ISBN 9780520270770.
  7. R.S. Ball (1876) The Theory of Screws: A study in the dynamics of a rigid body from Internet Archive
  8. "Robert Stawell Ball". University of St Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  9. R.S. Ball (1882) A Glimpse through the Corridors of Time from Wikisource
  10. R.S. Ball (1883) The Boundaries of Astronomy Part I and Part II
  11. See Project Gutenberg
  12. R.S. Ball (1900) A Treatise on the Theory of Screws, weblink from Cornell University Historical Math Monographs
  13. The Story of the Heavens is available from Project Gutenberg (external link)
  14. "Court Circular". The Times (36051). London. 29 January 1900. p. 9.
  15. R. S. Ball (1908) A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy Google preview
  16. Papworth Astronomy Club » Blog Archive » Mark Hurn – “Sir Robert Stawell Ball”. Papworthastronomy.org. Retrieved on 7 June 2014.
  17. W. V. Ball (1915) Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball, Cassell & Company., via Internet Archive
  18. "(4809) Robertball = 1928 RB = 1969 PS = 1988 CP6". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  19. Ruiz-Castell, Pedro (2004). "Astronomy and its Audiences: Robert Ball and Popular Astronomy in Victorian Britain". The Antiquarian Astronomer. Society for the History of Astronomy. 1: 34–39. Bibcode:2004AntAs...1...34R.
  20. Jones, Roger (2005). "Sir Robert Ball: Victorian Astronomer and Lecturer par excellence". The Antiquarian Astronomer. Society for the History of Astronomy. 2: 27–36. Bibcode:2005AntAs...2...27J.
  21. Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
  22. The Magpie Magazine, Vol 1, No 2, March 1900, Monkton Combe Junior School
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