Quotes:Horrocks, Jeremiah

Boris de Zirkoff

Horrocks, Jeremiah. English astronomer, b. in 1619 at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool. Student at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1832-35; then tutor at Toxteth, studying astronomy in his spare time. He calculated that, contrary to the prediction in Kepler's Rudolphine Tables, a transit of Venus would occur on November 24 (old style), 1639. This was a Sunday, and Horrocks, acting at the time as curate of Hoole, rushed from his clerical duties just in time to see the transit actually take place. This was the first transit of Venus to be observed. A brilliant young man, to whom are due several important contributions to astronomical knowledge, he died in his 22nd year, Jan. 3, 1641.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 1, p. 470