Sir Robert Stawell Ball

Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840–1913) was an Irish astronomer and mathematician who served as Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy at the University of Dublin, and later as Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge. He was celebrated less for original discovery than for his gift as a lecturer and popularizer, drawing large audiences across Britain with his talks on the night sky. His books, including this one and Star-Land, carried Victorian astronomy to a broad general readership.