European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Edmend Halley fl6s6-i741a Pivotal figure in the Ici Enllie revolution let in Molien by Copernicus o Century earlier was eclipsed in history because one of hit  wot Isaac Newton left. Orbiting forever in Newton s Shadow by John Noble Wilford new York times t Oward the end of his Long Lite Edmon Halley was writing of his prediction thai i Lecomet he studied in 1682 would return in1756 01 1759. He knew he would a not live 1osee in his calculations proved to be Correct. Bui tie expressed the Hope Attiat candid posterity will not Reluse to acknowledge that this was first discovered by an  candid posterity has been in one sense generous of Halley. His name is forever Jusso Ciales with comets although olten mispronounced in is Huley As in Alley. Hallay did not discover his Comer his conts Paulion was to determine that Cornels do nol travel straight tines or parabolic orbits but in elliptical orbits in a sort of squashed Circle Ihus making periodic Vasils to the inner solar system. By poliing with care Ine characteristics of their orbits to concluded that it was possible to predict their Many returns As he did Slih his Cornel. On Christmas night in 1758. Almost 17 years alter Halley s death the Cornel was seen again As he had predicted. And Syhl Tait Htu to his calculations the Cornel thai m is appeared in 1910 is Back again afoul 100 million mites away and travelling 66,000 Miles an four. The Comet is visible now with Ordinary binoculars and Small telescopes in March Afler she Comet has swung around the Sun it will be observed up close for the nest time by an International Armada of spacecraft. Posterity has been less Ihan generous to Halley in ignoring his other contributions to science. He was an innovative cartographer student of geomagnetism inventor of a deep sea Dimmg Bell author of the first actuarial mortality tables and Captain of a bold seagoing scientific expedition. As a mathematician and astronomer his primary Catling Halley was a Pivotal Siguro in the scientific revolution set in motion by Copernicus a Century earlier and advanced by the increasing use of telescopes in observing the Workings of the universe. But Halley was eclipsed in history because one of his contemporaries was Isaac Newton. The two men were a study in contrasts As Philip Morrison a physicist Ai the Massachusetts Institute of technology wrote in scientific american last november Halley the Man orbits forever in tha Shadow of the unmatched Newton but he was a gifted original versatile and productive scientist and a human being As  generous Loving and Sweet As Newton was retiring cold solitary and  Yel they became colleagues. It was Halley who encouraged the retiring Newton to Wiite Down the principles of gravitation he had developed alter years of thought supposedly inspired by to legendary falling Apple. Newton recognised that Gravity on arh represented the same Law of Force As thai alleging the motion of planets around the Sun. Halley edited the manuscript and arranged financing for publication in 1687 of Newton s area Book the Mather Apical principles of natural philosophy. Halley s encouragement of Newton was perhaps his greatest contribution to Scionte. According to Alan Cook a professor of natural philosophy at Cambridge John eco icon director of the London planetarium wild Wax Fig to of Edmand Halley Art display them. Page 14 the stars and stripes University in England. Bui in applying Newton s Laws of gravitation in making his Cornel prediction Halley vent an important step further his Correct prediction turned out to be the first direct confirmation o Newton s. Theories. Halley was born near London on nov. 8. 1656, Flo a Well to do mercantile family. His lather recognized oar y the promising Genius of Young Eckmond and saw to it thai he was provided with books and the curious apparatus for observing the panels and Slars while a student at Oxford University he published his first scientific report based on his observations of Jupiter and Saturn. At 20, a Stab Elshad his reputation As a professional astronomer on an expedition to the South Atlantic where he compiled the 1irst  Caiafo of Ifie Southern skies. In 16bo, the Young astronomer made his Glrst ail empt to plot the course of a Cornel Aid he made a hash of it. The fault Lay not in Halley s mathematics bul in the conventional scientific Wisdom about comets. Ii was wrong. The polish schol a Nicolas Copernicus had in 1543 exposed the notion of an Earth entered universe As nothing but a human conceit. The Sun did nol move around a fixed Earth he Earth moved around he Sun. Johannes Kepler the German who inner led the meticulous observations of Tycho Brahe the danish astronomer determined that the orbit of a planet was not circular As had been assumed but was an Ellipse wish the Sun Ai one focus. Meanwhile Galileo Galilei in 1609 had peered through the first Telescope at Jupiter and seen Lor the first time the four Large satellites orbiting the giant planet this me Rocos of the planetary system confirmed copernican theory still astronomer a hardly knew what to make of comets. Tycho Brahe had determined that they wets not As Aristotle had declared atmospheric Phenomena but Kepler did not believe they obeyed his own Laws of planetary motion. Comets he said travelled roughly in a straight line. They might fall into the Sun and be destroyed. Or missing the Sun they might swing around it and return to outer space. They would not. It was supposed Ever return again. Stung by the failure with the 1680 Comet Halley made even More careful observations of the Comet he saw through his Home Telescope in november 16fl2. This was the object that would someday be known As Halley s Comet the Comet set him to thinking about the problem that was very much on the minds of Many Scle lists of the Day. Kepler had described 1 he elliptical orbits of panels. Bul did not know Why this was so. What was the Force accounting or the motions of the panels and Elhel bodies like comets sunday