EDMOND HALLEY AS A THEMATIC GEO-CARTOGRAPHER¹

ABSTRACT

Edmond Halley was one of the leading figures in the Scientific Revolution in England who probably would have enjoyed a greater reputation had he not lived at the same time as Sir Isaac Newton, of whose work Halley was the greatest promoter. In turn, Halley's prediction of the return of the comet which he observed in 1682, at seventy-five year intervals, was based on the planetary physics developed by Newton. It is with this prediction, almost alone, that Halley's name is today popularly associated, but he was a scientist of great versatility. Halley made original contributions to several branches of learning including cartography. Although it is always dangerous to claim primacy, he is credited with the development of the earliest meteorological chart and the first printed isoline maps. Halley also produced a tidal chart and a map of the shadow of an eclipse, all of which show him to be a cartographic innovator of first rank. This paper attempts to bring together scattered material on Halley's cartographic activities, to reproduce in one place his five major contributions to thematic geo-cartography, and to place his work in the larger setting of the history of cartography.