If anyone has a minute, can you proof read this..

Just look for grammar and spelling. That's all I need. thanks

Biography

Edmond Halley was born into a wealthy family of a soap maker in 1656, at Haggerston near London, England. The exact date of his birth is unknown due to a dispute of when his parents married. The story of Halley’s life contains the inspirational aspect of his achievements, which show the possibilities each person is capable of given the right circumstances. On the other end of the scale though, the aftermath of his life is a prime example of being in the shadow of an even greater historical figure, Sir Isaac Newton. Many great scientists of his time also kept journals of their lives, whereas Halley did not, which made it even more difficult for future historians to study his life. This resulted in little fame for Halley after his life was over. The only reason he is still remembered to date by the common folk is due to the famous Halley’s Comet being named after him. Fame and glory aside though, the results of his work still had a great impact on astronomy as they laid the stepping stones for further developments in the field. Little is known about his other two siblings unfortunately, other than their respective birth and death years, both having died at a very young age.

The lack of financial concerns within his family, and throughout the beginning part of Halley’s career had the biggest influence on his uprising as, “one of the greatest men of his lifetime” (Heckart. 1984, pg 10). From an early age his father encouraged Halley to pursue his interest in astronomy and purchased a lot of instruments for him. At the age of 15, Halley was named the captain of St Paul’s, a very prestige school during his time, showing his capabilities of great success. Soon after that, Halley was on his way to Queen's College in Oxford. He was already noted as a very knowledgeable astronomer by that time, with a very fine collection of instruments, which his father kept on providing throughout the years. During his first year at the college, Halley made a few key observations that impressed a man named John Flamsteed, who was Astronomer Royal of the Royal Society in England. He invited Halley to come to Greenwich and use the instruments and books the Observatory had to offer. This resulted in a friendship between the two that unfortunately was destroyed later on.

After being in College for a very short time, Halley left for reasons that are not fully known, and departed on a journey to map the southern hemisphere. The whole trip was funded partly by his father and King Charles II. The success of the whole trip and the data Halley had managed to collect earned him high reputation in the Royal Society and with King Charles II. In 1678 Halley had become a graduate of Queen’s College with the help of the King, at the same time becoming a member of the Royal Society, making him one of the youngest people there.

The later parts of Halley life became quiet turbulent. In 1694, Halley’s father had died, found ditched on the side of the road. The reasons for his death were unknown, and the only clue was that his second marriage was a disaster and a financial strain. This was the beginning of Halley’s own financial troubles. By this time Halley had managed to become a close acquaintance of Newton, which in return pushed him away from Flamsteed. This was not a direct result of his friendship with Newton, but the actions the two made while publishing some of the works Flamsteed provided the Royal Society. Flamsteed later on retrieved all of the books published and in, “1715 he…publicly burned them ‘that none might remained to show the ingratitude’ of two of his countrymen” (Moore & Mason, 1984, pg 38). Halley now had an Astronomer Royal as his enemy. Both of these disasters interrupted Halley’s research until Flamsteed had died and Halley was named the new Astronomer Royal. When he arrived at the Observatory in Greenwich, he requested that Mrs Flamsteed vacate the place for him as soon as possible. The friction that existed between him and her husband prompted Mrs Flamsteed to take all the instruments which where bought by Flamsteed himself. This was a very devastating result and the instruments where never found to date. Halley continued to do research for a long time and even taught as a professor for a short period of time. He died in 1742.

What was his contribution to the discipline?
Charting the South Hemisphere

When Halley had first become friends with Flamsteed, he heard of his plans to compile a catalogue of the Northern Hemisphere. Influenced by their friendship and his love for astronomy, Halley proposed to do the same thing for the Southern Hemisphere. In 1676 Halley had left Queen’s College and had sailed to St. Helena where he planned to do most of his research. Upon his arrival home in 1678, he had managed to record the positions of 341 stars and observe a transit of Mercury across the Sun's disk. Halley showed both Flamsteed and Robert Hooke, the secretary of the Royal Society, his work, leaving both of them stunned that such a young man could come up with such results. Halley later on published his findings in a book called The Catalog of the Southern Stars.

Analyzing what is now known as Halley’s Comet
When Halley was touring France and Italy, visiting different observatories and astronomers, he saw something that had him fascinated. In 1680 while traveling between two cities, he noted a comet traveling in the sky. This got Halley interested in them, so he began researching these celestial objects from an observatory he built at home. Later on he witnessed the Great Comet of 1682, the same one that later would be named after him. For a while he put his research on comets aside, concentrating on other tasks he considered more important at the time. Finally after Newton published his book Principia, Halley was able to put some time back into comets. By using the same Kepler’s logic that planets travel in elliptical orbits around the sun, Halley predicted that comets had the same properties. He then was able to apply the calculations Newton derived in Principia, and came to the findings that the Great Comet of 1682 was the same one that appeared in 1607, 1531 and 1456. Halley took his observations even further and claimed that if his predictions were true, the same comet would return in 1758. His prediction came true when a farmer spotted the comet in December of 1758, only a few weeks off from Halley’s calculations. This was a great triumph for the long gone Halley and Newton, since after all, the principles used in the calculations where his. In the end, Halley was honored for his prediction by having the comet named after him.

Persuading Newton to publish Principia
Arguable Halley’s biggest contribution to the scientific world did not involve a discovery of his own. It was in fact the persuasion he gave Newton to publish Principia, a book that advanced Newton’s idea of force, and planetary motion. When Halley was trying to prove Kepler’s theories on planetary motion and their elliptic orbits, he was unable to do so mathematically. Halley then approached Robert Hooke and a few other members of the Royal Society for help. Hooke claimed that he already had the proof done, and would be able to show Halley the work soon. After waiting for proof Hooke had promised, Halley got impatient and went to Newton. This is where he found out that Newton had worked all of the theory out, and had it written down. Newton being a shy and quiet person never publicly told anyone about any of it though, and was not planning to publish his results in the future either. Halley had managed to realize the importance of Newton’s discovery though, since it was a whole new area of mathematics that he uncovered. When Halley began talking to Newton about his ideas of how the universe functioned, he also realized there were many theories that would benefit the scientific world immensely. Newton was not too enthusiastic about publishing his ideas though. The last time he prepared an article on light and color for the Royal Society, his ideas were widely criticized by other scientists. It took Halley a lot to persuade Newton to put all of his ideas into written form and have them published, one being that he would cover all the costs. By that time, the Royal Society was in dire need of money themselves, so the expense was put alone on Halley and took a big toll on his finances. Later one when the book became a big hit, he made most of the money back from sales. In the end, what it all comes down to though is Halley’s persuasive techniques and financial capabilities being the main reasons why Newton had managed to publish the book.

Halley’s other contributions
Halley had other contributions to the scientific world and even though they were not as important as the three mentioned above, they still had their impact on society. Halley studied various other topics such as water vapor, rainbows, solar heating, barometric pressure, magnetism and gravity. He came up with ways of keeping ships on water when ice was starting to build up, which was considered a big contribution at that time. Halley also studied salt water evaporation and determined that the age of the Earth might be determined by the degree of saltiness of the oceans. Today Halley is thought of as a first person to studied scientific geophysics. Halley also worked with many other scientists such Robert Hooke, and contributed his ideas where he could. Overall, Halley was pretty enthusiastic about sharing his ideas with his fellow scientists of the day. It could also be seen that he studied various other fields of science, and played a small role in each one of them.

Why and for what/whom was this important?
Halley’s three major contributions to the scientific world are important to many people, and still affect us today in some way. His chart of the Southern Hemisphere played a big role back in the day, since travel below the equator was now made possible since, “it would then be safe for navigation, commerce and exploration” (Heckart, pg 10). Halley’s discovery of comets, specifically the work he had done predicting the return of Halley’s Comet was partially an important discovery for Halley himself, since it is arguably his only token to fame. That discovery was also important since it gave people trust in science and took their fright away from comets. Finally, saving the last for the best, is Halley’s persuasion on Newton to publish the book. If Halley had not been so dedicated to fund the publishing of the book, re-check all of the calculations him, and finally push Newton to write down all of his ideas, Principia might have never been seen in the scientific world. What Newton had discovered is today known as Calculus and the modern phase of astronomy. Many people have even said that, “it is the greatest work on natural science ever done by a man” (Heckart, pg 55). It was also not until the 20th century, during Albert Einstein’s time that Newton’s principles that been slightly adjusted. Sir William C.D. Dampier, a historian of the sciences, had said that Newton showed that, “heavenly bodies worked in one gigantic mathematical harmony.” If such a book was not published by Newton, our world today as we know and see it would not exist.

[GT40FIED]

I didn't see anything...but then again I'm not a spell checking program which I would suggest using if you have any questions as to it's correctness. Most modern spell checkers also have grammar checkers too.

lol, I type everything in Word 2003 so it has the lastest and "greast" office apparel. The only thing is sometimes people might notice how a whole structure of a paragraph or sentences is a bit off and suggest something there. Anyways, thanks for reading.

[GT40FIED]

Yeah...I hear ya. It also won't catch shit like if you type "red" instead of "read" and shit like that.

[MAXed Out]

yeah from what i read it's fine but u know how u always read shit that's wrong and u don't realize it, kinda like GT40FIED said.

PGF1:
On the other end of the scale though, the aftermath of his life is a prime example of being in the shadow of an even greater historical figure, Sir Isaac Newton.

THOUGH is redundant with "On the other end of the scale"

Fame and glory aside though, the results of his work still had a great impact on astronomy as they laid the stepping stones for further developments in the field.

THOUGH is again probably not necessary.

Little is known about his other two siblings unfortunately, other than their respective birth and death years, both having died at a very young age.

I would probably move UNFORTUNATELY to the front.

PGF2:
The lack of financial concerns within his family, and throughout the beginning part of Halley’s career had the biggest influence on his uprising as, “one of the greatest men of his lifetime” (Heckart. 1984, pg 10).

FAMILY, AND doesn't seem right, the comma shouldn't be there, nor should the comma before the "one of the greatest men...."

From an early age his father encouraged Halley to pursue his interest in astronomy and purchased a lot of instruments for him.

HIS FATER ENCOURAGED HALLEY makes it sound like you're speaking of someone other than Halley's father. Perhaps reword it to "From an early age Halley's father encouraged him...."

He was already noted as a very knowledgeable astronomer by that time, with a very fine collection of instruments, which his father kept on providing throughout the years.

Seems odd. This, with, which. Perhaps break into 2 sentences or reword a little so it flows better.

PGF3:
After being in College for a very short time, Halley left for reasons that are not fully known, and departed on a journey to map the southern hemisphere.

No comma after the KNOWN, it's really not necessary. Although it also sounds as if his journey was the reason for leaving, even though you say he left for reasons unknown. I don't know the whole story here, but from reading the sentence it seems contradictory to itself while trying to be explanatory.

The whole trip was funded partly by his father and King Charles II.

I'd probably just say "The trip...." rather than "The whole trip...." WHOLE followed closely by PARTLY always looks funny. Or maybe say "The whole trip as funded jointly by his father and King Charles II."

In 1678 Halley had become a graduate of Queen’s College with the help of the King, at the same time becoming a member of the Royal Society, making him one of the youngest people there.

I'd probably restructure this a little. Instead of "King, at the same time" I'd say "King while at the same time...."

PGF4:
The later parts of Halley life became quiet turbulent.

QUITE not QUIET....just like red and read.

In 1694, Halley’s father had died, found ditched on the side of the road.

That just sounds strange. I would definitely rephrase it. Perhaps "In 1694 Halley's father was found dead, ditched on the side of the road." Or "In 1694 Halley's father died and was found ditched on the side of the road."

The reasons for his death were unknown, and the only clue was that his second marriage was a disaster and a financial strain.

WERE unknown or ARE unknown? Watch your tenses.

Flamsteed later on retrieved all of the books published and in, “1715 he…publicly burned them ‘that none might remained to show the ingratitude’ of two of his countrymen” (Moore & Mason, 1984, pg 38).

The comma after AND IN probably shouldn't be there. Perhaps do AND IN 1715, "he publicly...."

Halley now had an Astronomer Royal as his enemy.

Astronomer Royal....haha, sounds like Battle Royal. Just thought it was amusing.

Both of these disasters interrupted Halley’s research until Flamsteed had died and Halley was named the new Astronomer Royal.

HAD DIED? I'd probably ditch the HAD. More tense switching.

The friction that existed between him and her husband prompted Mrs Flamsteed to take all the instruments which where bought by Flamsteed himself.

Ambiguous. "him and her husband" isn't clear enough as to who the HIM is. I'd restructure it a little to make it more clear.

This was a very devastating result and the instruments where never found to date.

WERE not WHERE. However I'd ditch it anyways. "...the instruments have not been found to date." Or "...the instruments were never found." Or something of the sort.

PGF5:
When Halley had first become friends with Flamsteed, he heard of his plans to compile a catalogue of the Northern Hemisphere.

HE...HIS. Ambiguous. "...he heard of Flamsteed's plans...." perhaps?

In 1676 Halley had left Queen’s College and had sailed to St. Helena where he planned to do most of his research. Upon his arrival home in 1678, he had managed to record the positions of 341 stars and observe a transit of Mercury across the Sun's disk. Halley showed both Flamsteed and Robert Hooke, the secretary of the Royal Society, his work, leaving both of them stunned that such a young man could come up with such results. Halley later on published his findings in a book called The Catalog of the Southern Stars.

You keep switching here with "had left" and "had sailed" and "had managed" but then you switch to "showed" and "published". To stay consistent I'd probably ditch the HADs.

PGF6:
When Halley was touring France and Italy, visiting different observatories and astronomers, he saw something that had him fascinated.

Sounds a little odd, I'd maybe say "...that fascinated him." rather than "...had him fascinated." It's just a peculiar way of putting it.

This got Halley interested in them, so he began researching these celestial objects from an observatory he built at home.

Is the comet the focus, or Halley? If Halley is the focus, I'd say "This interested Hally, so he...."

This was a great triumph for the long gone Halley and Newton, since after all, the principles used in the calculations where his.

I'd probably ditch the comma after the AFTER ALL.

PGF7:
It was in fact the persuasion he gave Newton to publish Principia, a book that advanced Newton’s idea of force, and planetary motion.

No comma after FORCE. Only use the comma when there's more than 2 items in a list, otherwise AND is just fine on its own.

Newton being a shy and quiet person never publicly told anyone about any of it though, and was not planning to publish his results in the future either.

A little odd. Probably say "Newton, being a shy and quiet person, had not yet told anyone about any of it and was not planning...."

Later one when the book became a big hit, he made most of the money back from sales.

Later ON not ONE

In the end, what it all comes down to though is Halley’s persuasive techniques and financial capabilities being the main reasons why Newton had managed to publish the book.

I'd probably ditch the THOUGH here again

PGF8:
Halley had other contributions to the scientific world and even though they were not as important as the three mentioned above, they still had their impact on society.

Ya know those commas I've been complaining about, add one. "...scientific world, and even though...."

Today Halley is thought of as a first person to studied scientific geophysics.

"a first person" ?? The, perhaps? Or "one of the first people...."?

Halley also worked with many other scientists such Robert Hooke, and contributed his ideas where he could.

such AS Robert Hooke

PGF9:
Halley’s three major contributions to the scientific world are important to many people, and still affect us today in some way.

I'd ditch the comma.

His chart of the Southern Hemisphere played a big role back in the day, since travel below the equator was now made possible since, “it would then be safe for navigation, commerce and exploration” (Heckart, pg 10).

"back in the day" sounds very informal. I'd also ditch the comma after "made possible since ...."

Halley’s discovery of comets, specifically the work he had done predicting the return of Halley’s Comet was partially an important discovery for Halley himself, since it is arguably his only token to fame.

"...comets, specifically the work he had done predicting the return of Halley's Comet, was particularly an important discovery for himself since it is arguably his only token to fame." Note PARTIALLY changed to PARTICULARLY and the extra comma after Comet. However calling it Halley's Comet in the same sentence describing his prediction is a little odd, not sure how to get around it though.

Many people have even said that, “it is the greatest work on natural science ever done by a man” (Heckart, pg 55).

Many people have even said "it is the...."

It was also not until the 20th century, during Albert Einstein’s time that Newton’s principles that been slightly adjusted.

"It was also not until the 20th century, during Albert Einstein's time, that...."

Sir William C.D. Dampier, a historian of the sciences, had said that Newton showed that, “heavenly bodies worked in one gigantic mathematical harmony.”

Ditch the comma.

Other than aforementioned comments in italics, it's pretty good.

Hope this helps.

b

Yeah, just a few where's instead of were's. I counted at least three.

Also, if this is for school, I would lose the "back in the day" you have towards the end.

spoogenet is an english teacher?

Far from it.

Hukt on fonix werkt four mee.

b

Damn, if only you replied to this yesterday you would have been my saviour for a higher mark lol
Thanks for helping though.

Haha....glad I can be late.

Most of the problems I noticed are habitual problems you have. Like using "though" too much, or placing commas before quotes when it's not necessary. Then there's just a few erroneous awkward wordings thrown in to make it more interesting.

Changing your habitual problems is pretty easy, just be aware of them when you proofread your own work and you can catch yourself making the mistakes.

Other than that your writing is pretty solid, depending of course on whether the teacher likes it or not. Ahhh those were the days, writing a wonderful paper that got bad grades because the teacher just didn't like the subject.

b

Lol...y'all got too much time!

Nah, I'm just way too sick of work to not surf HSTuners and help a brotha out.

b

Originally posted by spoogenet
Nah, I'm just way too sick of work to not surf HSTuners and help a brotha out.

b

Exactly ma brotha. Thas da way it has ta be daan. We'se be lookin out fo each otha yo.
Thanks for the compliment though. She has to like the subject since we only had 5 other choices of other scientists...so hopefully it's an A

[95DX]

as been said by others its always good to have someone else check, I say that since I got marked down on an assignment once, that I had to type up quickly, since it was due the next day. I didn't have time to proof read it or have someone do it for me and when I get to typing too fast I get a problem with won and own and spell/grammer won't and didn't pick up that little problem and I did it through most if not the whole thing