Edmond Halley’s use of historical evidence in the advancement of science

Abstract

Men of science in the 17th century were well aware of the achievements of the past: their earliest experiences in education had been in the languages and cultural traditions of the ancient world. Astronomers in particular, who were constantly concerned with the revision of celestial tables, were perhaps the most acutely aware of what had gone on before them. No major astronomical writer from Copernicus to Flamsteed could show anything other than an informed respect for Hipparchus, Ptolemy and Regiomontanus, for these were the men who had provided the first reliable data upon which celestial mechanics came to be based. It is my argument, however, that Edmond Halley developed a more thorough-going historical awareness than did most of his recent scientific predecessors or contemporaries. Like the antiquarians and literary scholars of the age, Halley displayed a fascination with and an informed critical awareness of human history, as it was understood in the late 17th century. This awareness, moreover, was, not just concerned with astronomical topics, but suffused his general thought-process to make him see the overall investigation of nature as rooted within a cultural context that can only be called historical.