Edward Knobel
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Edward_Knobel_%28IAU_1887%29.jpg)
Edward Ball Knobel(21 October 1841 – 25 July 1930) was anEnglishbusinessman and amateurastronomer.He was born inLondon,England.
He started to study law but his love ofgeologymade him change to theGovernment School of Mines(now part ofImperial College London) in 1861. In 1862, he changed his career again, starting to work forBass & Co.atBurton upon Trentas ananalytical chemistin the brewery department. He rose to become a manager andHead Brewer.He then became a manager of aCourtauld'ssilkfactory atBockingin 1875. His final position was with theIlford Photographic Company.
In 1872, he purchased an 8.5 inchreflecting telescopeto further his interest in astronomy. His work on a publication about the chronology ofstar cataloguesin 1875 let him to study the work of earlyArabastronomers and learn someArabicandPersian.He then prepared a new edition of the star catalogue in theAlmagestusing all available sources in Greek, Arabic and Latin. After a long collaboration withC. H. F. Peters,a final collated version was published in 1915.[1]In 1917 he published a translation ofUlugh Beg's star catalogue.[2]He was President of both theBritish Astronomical Associationand theRoyal Astronomical Society(1892–1893 and 1900–1901).
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Craters_on_Mars_close_to_the_gale_crater.jpg/220px-Craters_on_Mars_close_to_the_gale_crater.jpg)
AcrateronMarswas named in his honour.
Family
[edit]One of Knobel's daughters,Emily Maud Knobel,was a Fellow of the Zoological Society and an expert on parrots, particularly their care in captivity.[3]
References
[edit]- ^Peters, Christian Heinrich Friedrich & Knobel, Edward Ball,Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars: A Revision of the Almagest(Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915 [=Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington,no. 86])online link.
- ^Knobel, Edward Ball,Ulugh Beg's Catalogue of Stars: Revised from all Persian Manuscripts Existing in Great Britain, with a Vocabulary of Persian and Arabic Words(Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917 [=Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington,no. 250])online link.
- ^Maurice Amsler (1948)."MAUD KNOBEL 1922-1948".The Avicultural Magazine.54(5): 137–138.ISSN0005-2256.WikidataQ113677135.
- "Edward Ball Knobel".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.91(4): 318–321. 1931.Bibcode:1931MNRAS..91..318..doi:10.1093/mnras/91.4.318.