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Authorised form of nameBall; Sir; Robert Stawell (1840 - 1913)
Dates1840 - 1913
Place of birthDublin, Ireland
Date of birth01 July 1840
Place of deathCambridge
Date of death25/11/1913
Dates and placesBurial:
St Giles' cemetery, now Ascension Cemetery, Cambridge
Research fieldAstronomy
ActivityEducation:
Trinity College, Dublin. LLD
Career:
Tutor to the sons of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (FRS 1831) (1865-1867) owner of the six-foot relecting trelescope, then the largest in the world; Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mechanism, Royal College of Science, Dublin; Professor of Astronomy, University of Dublin (1874-1892); Astronomer Royal for Ireland; Lowndean Professor of Astronomy, Cambridge University (1893-1913); his eyesight failed and his right eye was removed (1887); Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution
Honours:
Kt 1886
Memberships:
MRIA; FRAS
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election12/06/1873
RelationshipsSon of Robert Ball, clerk in Dublin Castle, and his wife Amelia Gresley Hellicar, of Bristol; elder brother of Valentine Ball (FRS 1882); married (1868) Frances Elizabeth, daughter of W E Steele; father-in-law of Sir Joseph Barcroft (FRS 1910)
Published works'The Theory of the Screws: A Study in the Dynamics of a Rigid Body' 1876; 'The Story of the Heavens' ;
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1914-1915 vol 91 pp xvii-xxi signed by F W D and G T B
References:
Vanity Fair 13 April 1905
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/64100966
Royal Society codeNA7578
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
IM/Maull/000224Ball, Sir Robert Stawellnd
MM/15/48Report by RS Ball on a paper by FC Penrose on the orientation of a number of Greek temples5 February 1893
IM/Maull/000223Ball, Sir Robert Stawellnd
MS/377/1/12Letter from Robert Stawell Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [William Fletcher] Barrett23 April 1906
MS/377/1/14Letter from Robert Stawell Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [William Fletcher] Barrett8 November 1907
MS/377/1/10Letter from Robert Stawell Ball, Royal College of Science, Dublin, to [William Fletcher] Barrett9 October 1873
MS/377/1/11Letter from Robert Stawell Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [William Fletcher] Barrett6 May 1899
MS/377/1/15Letter from Robert Stawell Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [William Fletcher] Barrett28 November 1909
MS/377/1/153Draft article by William Fletcher Barrett, 'Remiscences of Sir Robert Ball'[1913]
IM/000222Ball, Sir Robert Stawell1999
NLB/4/199Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball11 March 1890
NLB/3/238Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society17 April 1889
NLB/5/848Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society, the Observatory, Dublin4 November 1891
NLB/7/265Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons9 January 1893
NLB/5/850Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to the Honorable Rollo Russell, Dunrozel, Haslemere, Surrey4 November 1891
NLB/10/675Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society18 January 1895
NLB/9/93Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society31 March 1894
NLB/11/446Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society3 July 1895
NLB/11/671Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball9 September 1895
NLB/11/740Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society27 September 1895
NLB/12/809Copy letter from Robert William Frederick, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society, the Observatory, Cambridge11 May 1896
NLB/14/741Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society10 May 1897
NLB/14/397Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Joseph Norman Lockyer4 March 1897
NLB/15/156Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society, The Observatory, Cambridge7 July 1897
NLB/16/207Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Sir R Ball[22 February 1898]
NLB/16/733Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert S Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society, Athenaeum Club, S.W.27 May 1898
NLB/18/204Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir R S Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society6 February 1899
NLB/19/559Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society1 November 1899
NLB/21/147Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society22 August 1900
NLB/22/855Copy letter from unknown correspondent, to Sir Robert [Stalwell] Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society, Observatory, Cambridge31 July 1901
NLB/23/2/235Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society16 July 1902
NLB/24/703Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society23 June 1902
NLB/25/610Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society26 November 1902
NLB/30/652Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society2 May 1905
NLB/29/723Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society1 December 1904
MS/603/1/53Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmorn.d. ['Sunday']
RR/7/222Referee's report by Arthur Cayley, on a paper 'Researches in the dynamics of a rigid body by the aid of the theory of screws' by Robert Stawell Ball30 September 1873
RR/12/188Referee's report by Robert Stawell Ball, on a paper 'Preliminary report on the results obtained with the prismatic cameras during the total eclipse of the Sun, April 16, 1893' by Joseph Norman Lockyer28 April 1894
MS/377/1/13Letter from Robert Stawell Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [William Fletcher] Barrett16 November 1906
NLB/3/230Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Observatory, County Dublin13 April 1889
NLB/6/274Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Fellow of the Royal Society4 April 1892
NLB/16/728Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, St Stephen's House, Victoria Embankment26 May 1898
MC/19/38Letter from Robert [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmor18 October 1904
EC/1873/04Ball, Sir Robert Stawell: certificate of election to the Royal Society
VF/03Portrait of Sir Robert Stawell Ball by Sir Leslie Ward13 April 1905
MS/603/1/44Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmor29 May 1894
MS/603/1/50Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to 'My dear Master' [Joseph Larmor]20 July 1908
MC/9/580Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Greystones, County Wicklow, to the Royal Society16 June 1873
MC/9Volume 9 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1870-June 1873
MC/10/62Letter from R [Robert] Ball, 47 Wellington Place, Clyde Road, Dublin, to Professor [George Gabriel] Stokes, [Secretary of the Royal Society]25 January 1874
MC/10Volume 10 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal SocietyJuly 1873-1876
MS/603/1/48Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmor29 September 1905
MS/603/1/45Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmor7 December 1898
MS/603/1/52Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmor19 January 1911
MS/603/1/46Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, King's College, Cambridge, to [Joseph] Larmor26 April 1899
MS/603/1/49Letter and paper from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to 'My dear Master' [Joseph Larmor]15 July 1908
MS/603/1/47Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Cunard R.M.S. Saxonia, to [Joseph] Larmor19 January 1902
MS/603/1/51Letter from Robert S [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to Joseph Larmor17 January 1911
RR/7/223Referee's report by Edward John Routh, on a paper 'Researches in the dynamics of a rigid body by the aid of the theory of screws' by Robert Stawell BallNovember 1873
MC/14/28Letter from Sir [Robert Stawell] Ball, The Observatory, Dunsink Lane, Dublin, to the Royal Society15 March 1885
MC/14Volume 14 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1885-1888
MC/21Volume 21 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1906
MC/21/20Letter from Robert [Stawell] Ball, Observatory, Cambridge, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society30 January 1906
MC/19Volume 19 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1904
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