Introduction
Halley’s comet is named after Edmond Halley (1656-1742), Britain’s second Astronomer Royal and a friend and colleague of Sir Isaac Newton.
AT nineteen, Edmond Halley was assistant to John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory, and at twenty-two he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in recognition of his work mapping constellations and observing weather patterns on the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic.
In 1705, Halley proposed that the comets sighted in 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 were all one, and accurately predicted the years in which what we now know as “Halley’s Comet” would return.
He also spent many hours at the bottom of the Thames in a primitive but ingenious diving bell, and wrote a paper on life expectancy which gave rise to the modern disciplines of actuarial science and demographics.
Nonetheless, Halley probably never did anything more important for science than call on Sir Isaac Newton in 1684.
His visit prompted the scatterbrained professor to collect his research and write Principia Mathematica, which Halley then published at his own expense. It was a book which would change the world for ever.
Précis
Edmond Halley, a seventeenth-century meteorologist and astronomer, is remembered today for the comet named after him, which he identified as not four different comets but the same one returning, and whose next appearance he predicted accurately. More important to the history of science, however, was his unwavering support for Sir Isaac Newton in the publication of Principia Mathematica. (58 / 60 words)
Edmond Halley, a seventeenth-century meteorologist and astronomer, is remembered today for the comet named after him, which he identified as not four different comets but the same one returning, and whose next appearance he predicted accurately. More important to the history of science, however, was his unwavering support for Sir Isaac Newton in the publication of Principia Mathematica.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, may, must, ought, unless, whereas, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Bell. One. World.
2 Actuarial. All. Ever.
3 Ingenious. Modern. Write.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
mss (9+3)
amass. amiss. amuses. mass. mess. miss. moss. mousse. muses.
mesas. misuse. muss.
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