Horrocks, Jeremiah, 1618-1641 (astronomer)
Person
Dates
- Existence: 1618 - 1641
Biography
Jeremiah Horrocks (1618-41) of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, astronomer, inspired John Flamsteed in the creation of the Royal Observatory, 1675, and was named by Sir Isaac Newton as a crucial link between Kepler and his own work. Horrocks predicted a transit of Venus, and on 24th November 1639 was the first astronomer to see it, with the aid of a telescope. Horrocks worked on 'Venus in sole visa' until his death at the age of 23; it was published from another manuscript (now lost) by Joannes Hevelius in Danzig, 1662. An English translation was published in 1859.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Fonds
Jeremiah Horrocks: 'Venus in sole visa'
Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9320
Scope and Contents
The author's own manuscript, 206 folios. (f.3) 'Venus in sole visa: seu tractatus astronomicus de nobilissima Solis et Veneris coniunctione, Novembris die 24, 1639'. Chapter 4 and the last paragraph of chapter 9 are in different hands, and were probably added later. (f.40) 'Venus in sole visa...', the same treatise, in a slightly variant seventeen-chapter version, probably in the same hand. (f.84) 'Jeremiae Horroxj praeludium astronomicum liber primus, De motu solis', an unfinished tract....
Dates:
1639-1641
Conditions Governing Access:
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Found in:
Cambridge University Library