Abstract
Edmond Halley’s name is forever associated with the comet that passes close by the Earth every 75 years. In 1705, more than half a century in advance, Halley correctly predicted the year in which the comet would return. Of a more worldly nature was his life table, which is still considered a milestone in actuarial science.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Edmond Halley, 1693. ‘An Estimate of the Degrees of the Mortality of Mankind, drawn from curious Tables of the Births and Funerals at the City of Breslaw; with an Attempt to ascertain the Price of Annuities upon Lives’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 17: 596–610.
M. Greenwood, 1938. ‘The First Life Table’. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 1 (2), 70–72.
Allan Chapman, 1994. ‘Edmond Halley’s Use of Historical Evidence in the Advancement of Science’. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 48 (2), 167–191.
David Ipsen, 2004. Edmond Halley: More than a Man with a Comet. Xlibris cooperation, 60 pp.
Dirk van Ham, 2005. ‘De Tafel van Afsterving van Johannes Hudde’(Johannes Hudde’s Life Table). De Actuaris, July 2005, 31–33.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schils, R. (2012). Edmond Halley. In: How James Watt Invented the Copier. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0860-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0860-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-0859-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-0860-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)