Mars and Johann Hieronymus Schroeter

Sir, —The article on Charles Edward Burton (HI 14.1, Jan./Feb. 2006) wasvery interesting and widened my knowledge of the history of astronomy.Although the Italian Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed in 1880 to havediscovered the network of ‘canals’, he was not the first. Thisphenomenon had been discovered by the German astronomer JohannHieronymus Schroeter (1745–1816), senior civil servant at … Read more

Paddy Butner: the boy in the GPO, 1916

‘Many people have claimed to be him. His real name was Paddy Butner. He was 9 years old’ (Desmond Ryan). Sir, —I am compiling information in order to write a short articleconcerning Paddy Butner. In 1929 Col. Charles Dalton, in his book Withthe Dublin Brigade, gave the credit for driving the stolen armoured carunder the … Read more