"He does not appear to have had much taste for mere abstract mathematics; but his papers prove that he was familiar with those branches which were most useful to him in their application. His demonstration of the laws of aberration is to be taken rather as an historical curiosity, than a test of his geometrical abilities. Every one, who has investigated a new problem, must be aware that the first solution which he devises has seldom been the best. Bradley's sole object, in this case, was to ascertain the rules by which he was to calculate; he had no view to publication; if he had, he might have improved the form, and condensed the substance, of his demonstration. But in this instance, as in others, he was probably checked by a fear of submitting his thoughts to the opinion of the world."
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ClergyAnglicans from the United KingdomUniversity of Oxford facultyAstronomers from EnglandUniversity of Oxford alumni
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James Bradley
FRS (March 1693 – 13 July 1762) was an English astronomer and served as Astronomer Royal from 1742, succeeding Edmond Halley. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and the nutation of the Earth's axis (1728–1748).
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