William Crabtree Transit of Venus, 1639

ivy cottage, broughton: house william crabtree thought have made observation of transit

william crabtree (1610–1644) cloth merchant broughton spout, hamlet in township of broughton near manchester, part of salford. son of john crabtree, lancashire farmer of comfortable means, , isabel crabtree (née pendleton), educated @ grammar school in manchester – forerunner of manchester grammar school, situated between collegiate church , chetham s school of music. worked in manchester, married wealthy family , in spare time studied mathematics , astronomy. measured movements of planets, undertook precise astronomical calculations , rewrote existing rudolphine tables improved accuracy. maintained active correspondence, of lost, horrocks, 2 other young astronomers – william gascoigne , christopher towneley – , samuel foster, professor of astronomy @ gresham college, london , alumnus of emmanuel college. not known whether horrocks , crabtree ever met in person 1636 corresponded regularly, and, because of shared interest in work of johannes kepler, referred themselves, along william gascoigne, nos keplari (we keplarians).

crabtree’s observations had convinced him that, despite errors, kepler’s rudolphine tables superior commonly used lansberg s tables, , became 1 of first converts kepler’s new astronomy. 1637, had convinced horrocks of superiority of keplerian system, and, using own planetary observations, both men made many corrections kepler s tables, crabtree converted decimal form.