14th January 1742, death of the English mathematician and astronomer Edmond Halley. Halley is best known for predicting in 1705 the return of a comet utilizing his contemporary Isaac Newton's laws of motion, Halley himself had funded the publication of Newton's influential work ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’. Halley was proved right 16 years after his death in 1758, when the comet did indeed return, and was named after him. In 1691, Halley built a diving bell, with a window for observing life underwater, demonstrating the device, Halley and five companions dived to 60 feet in the River Thames in London, and remained there for over an hour and a half; later improving the design to spend over four hours underwater. The following year Halley put forth the theory of a hollow Earth, consisting of a shell 500 miles thick under which atmospheres and potential life existed. In 1720, Halley alongside his friend the pioneer antiquarian William Stukeley, made the first attempt to scientifically date Stonehenge, which later would form the basis of the science of archeology. Stukeley would later influence the artist William Blake through his beliefs in the ancient religion of Druidism, and ancient culture in England. Prior to these early archaeological investigations, it was believed that a giant race of people had once lived in England. The English theologian Thomas Stackhouse (1677–1752), writing in ‘A New History of the Holy Bible’, published in 1737; claimed that Stonehenge was constructed before the biblical flood by these same giants. 📖 continued in the comments. #edmundhalley #halleyscomet #william blake #williamblaketarot #stonehengesoltice #druidism #ancientgiants #historicalillustration #tarotillustration #tarotart #tarotartist #tarotdecks #steampunktarot #strangehistory #steampunkillustration #steampunkdecor #historymystery #darkillustration #illustrationartwork #historymystery #historymysteries #strangehistory #weirdhistory #oddhistory #historicalmysteries #darkhistory #historicalstories #historicalstory https://www.instagram.com/p/CKJiySEH0Af/?igshid=1hbptoar66kwt
