The English astronomer John Flamsteed (1646-1719), the first astronomer royal, was the author of an important set of star catalogs.

John Flamsteed was born at Denby near Derby on Aug. 19, 1646, the only son of Stephen Flamsteed. John attended the Free School in Derby until he was forced to leave because of illness. After a brief period of rest and treatment, he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1670 to study astronomy.

Flamsteed's interest in astronomy was stirred by the solar eclipse of 1662, and besides reading all he could find on the subject he attempted to make his own measuring instruments. He came to astronomy more or less self-taught, and yet he became known through an article in 1670 in the foremost scientific journal of the day, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. At Cambridge he observed the planets and the moon, and by these observations and research into written sources he...