{{Short description|British astronomer (1841–1930)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=July 2016}} [[File:Edward Knobel (IAU 1887).jpg|thumb|Edward Knobel at the 1887 [[International Astronomical Union|IAU]] meeting{{contradiction-inline|reason=the IAU wasn't founded until 1919|date=February 2026}}]] '''Edward Ball Knobel''' (21 October 1841 – 25 July 1930) was an English businessman and amateur [[astronomer]]. He was born in [[London]], England.

He started to study law but his love of [[geology]] made him change to the [[Government School of Mines]] (now part of [[Imperial College London]]) in 1861. In 1862, he changed his career again, starting to work for [[Bass (beer)|Bass & Co.]] at [[Burton upon Trent]] as an [[chemist|analytical chemist]] in the brewery department. He rose to become a manager and [[Head Brewer]]. He then became a manager of a [[Samuel Courtauld (industrialist)|Courtauld's]] [[silk]] factory at [[Braintree, Essex|Bocking]] in 1875. His final position was with the [[Ilford Photo|Ilford Photographic Company]].

In 1872, he purchased an 8.5 inch [[reflecting telescope]] to further his interest in astronomy. His work on a publication about the chronology of [[star catalogues]] in 1875 let him to study the work of early [[Arab]] astronomers and learn some [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]]. He then prepared a new edition of the star catalogue in the [[Almagest]] using all available sources in Greek, Arabic and Latin. After a long collaboration with [[C. H. F. Peters]], a final collated version was published in 1915.<ref>Peters, Christian Heinrich Friedrich & Knobel, Edward Ball, ''Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars: A Revision of the Almagest'' (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915 [= ''Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington'', no.&nbsp;86]) [https://archive.org/details/cu31924012300491 online link].</ref> In 1917 he published a translation of [[Ulugh Beg]]'s star catalogue.<ref>Knobel, Edward Ball, ''Ulugh Beg's Catalogue of Stars: Revised from all Persian Manuscripts Existing in Great Britain, with a Vocabulary of Persian and Arabic Words'' (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917 [= ''Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington'', no.&nbsp;250]) [https://archive.org/details/cu31924012303800 online link].</ref> He was President of both the [[British Astronomical Association]] and the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] (1892–1893 and 1900–1901). [[File:Craters on Mars close to the gale crater.jpg|thumb|The Knobel Crater is located next to the [[Gale (crater)]]]] A [[Impact crater|crater]] on [[Mars]] was named in his honour.

==Family== One of Knobel's daughters, [[E. Maud Knobel|Emily Maud Knobel]], was a Fellow of the Zoological Society and an expert on parrots, particularly their care in captivity.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q113677135}}</ref>

==References== <references/> * {{cite journal|doi=10.1093/mnras/91.4.318|bibcode=1931MNRAS..91..318.|title=Edward Ball Knobel|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=91|issue=4|pages=318–321|year=1931|doi-access=free}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knobel, Edward Ball}} [[Category:1841 births]] [[Category:1930 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century British astronomers]] [[Category:People from Marylebone]] [[Category:Scientists from London]] [[Category:Alumni of Imperial College London]] [[Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society]] [[Category:20th-century British astronomers]]

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