John Flamsteed was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal.
13 Facts About John Flamsteed
2.
John Flamsteed made the first recorded observations of Uranus, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a star, and he laid the foundation stone for the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
3.
John Flamsteed was educated at the free school of Derby and at Derby School, in St Peter's Churchyard, Derby, near where his father carried on a malting business.
4.
John Flamsteed associated himself with local gentlemen interested in astronomy, including William Litchford, whose library included the work of the astrologer John Gadbury which included astronomical tables by Jeremiah Horrocks, who had died in 1641 at the age of twenty-two.
5.
John Flamsteed was greatly impressed by the work of Horrocks.
6.
John Flamsteed was admitted as an official Assistant to the Royal Commission and supplied observations in order to test St Pierre's proposal and to offer his own comments.
7.
John Flamsteed held that office, as well as that of Astronomer Royal, until his death.
8.
John Flamsteed is buried at Burstow, and the east window in the church was dedicated to him as a memorial.
9.
The will of Flamsteed's widow, Margaret, left instructions for her own remains to be deposited "in the same Grave in which Mr John Flamsteed is buryed in the Chancell of Burstow Church".
10.
John Flamsteed accurately calculated the solar eclipses of 1666 and 1668.
11.
John Flamsteed was responsible for several of the earliest recorded sightings of the planet Uranus, which he mistook for a star and catalogued as '34 Tauri'.
12.
John Flamsteed later learned that Newton had gained access to his observations and data through Edmond Halley, his former assistant with whom he previously had a cordial relationship.
13.
John Flamsteed managed to gather three hundred of the four hundred printings and burned them.