Robert Grant

Abstract

IN Robert Grant, who at the ripe age of seventy-eight died at the place of his birth, Grantown-on-Spey, on October 24, 1892, science loses one of her ablest historians. His education was interrupted by a serious illness, which confined him to his bed from his fourteenth to his twentieth year. With surprising energy, however, on his recovery he set about the study of mathematics and the acquisition of ancient and modern languages. After studying for a time at King's College, Aberdeen, he went to London to collect materials for a history of physical astronomy. Thence he proceeded to Paris in 1845, where for two years he attended the lectures of Arago at the Observatory, and those of Leverrier and others at the Sorbonne. Returning to London, he lost little time in beginning the great work with which his name will always be associated. It was published in numbers, the first of which appeared in September, 1848, but it was not until March, 1852, that the whole work was issued. It bears the title “History of Physical Astronomy from the Earliest Ages to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, comprehending a detailed account of the establishment of the Theory of Gravitation by Newton, and its development by his successors; with an exposition of the progress of research in all the other subjects of Celestial Physics.” Most completely do the contents of the volume fulfill every expectation raised by this comprehensive programme. The fame of its author was at once established. Four years later he received from the hands of the late Mr. Manuel J. Johnson, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, the gold medal, then for the first time awarded for literary service to astronomical science. One paragraph of the address delivered on that occasion may here be quoted as characterizing most justly the work as well as its author: “Throughout the book no one can fail to be struck with the rare skill, integrity, and discernment the author has displayed in tracing the successive stages of progress; or with the scrupulous care he has taken to assign to each of the great men whom he reviews their proper share in the common labour. Nowhere is this more conspicuous than in the discussion relative to the discovery of the planet Neptune. By a simple narration of facts he has placed the history of that great event in so clear and so true a light, that I believe I am not wrong in saying he has gained an author's highest praise under such circumstances—the approval of both the eminent persons concerned”. Even now, forty years after its publication, the “History” has lost none of its value as a mine of information, and as a delightful guide to those who desire to make a closer acquaintance with the astronomers of the past, as well as their works.