Ball, Robert Stawell (1840-1913)

Irish astronomer who refined observational methods at the Birr Observatory, County Offaly. A gifted public lecturer, he published 13 volumes of his popular works on astronomy and was appointed Astronomer Royal for Ireland in 1874. He also conducted mathematical research into screw motions.

Born in Dublin, Ball was educated in Dublin and Chester before entering Trinity College, Dublin in 1857 where he enjoyed a distinguished career. He accepted a post as tutor to the sons of the Earl of Rosse on the understanding that he would be given access to the Leviathan, a 183-cm/72-in reflector at Birr Castle built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, which was then the largest telescope in the world. There he improved the techniques for capturing observational data on faint nebulae.

Ball became Andrews professor of astronomy at the University of Dublin. In 1892 he was appointed Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry at the Cambridge Observatory, England, but deteriorating eyesight forced him to abandon astronomical observations.

His extensive research on screw motions was carried out over a period of 30 years. He made independent discoveries of theorems associated with the theory of linear complexes in line geometry and ranks among the leading 19th-century mathematicians for his contribution to the geometry of motion and force.

Ball wrote several popular books on astronomy, of which the best known are The Story of the Heavens (1885), In Starry Realms (1892), and In the High Heavens (1893).