Robert Ball | |
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Born | 1 April 1802 |
Died | 30 March 1857 54) 3 Granby Row, Dublin | (aged
Nationality | Irish |
Known for | developing "Ball's dredge" |
Robert Ball (1 April 1802 - 30 March 1857) was an Irish naturalist. He served as the Director of the Dublin University Museum, and developed a method of dredging known as "Ball's dredge." [1] He served as a secretary to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland for two decades and was responsible for popularizing natural history through public educational outreach.
He was born at Queenstown, County Cork. He was the third child of Bob Stawell Ball, a customs official, and Mary Ball (née Green). The Ball family lived in Youghal, County Cork. Robert had two sisters who shared his interest in nature, Anne, a well-known phycologist, and Mary, an entomologist. He also had a brother, Bent (7 March 1806 - 19 May 1860), who did not appear to pursue any interest in these fields. [2] He initially attended a school in Clonakilty, before attending a Quaker school in Ballitore, County Kildare where his interest for natural history was developed with encouragement from his schoolmaster James White. He returned to Youghal in 1824 to take up a post as a magistrate which involved travel and was sometimes dangerous, even escaping an assassination attempt, but aided his natural history specimen collecting. He left Youghal for Dublin in 1827, and as he was unable to afford medical studies he worked for 20 years in the civil service, firstly as clerk in the Constabulary and Yeomanry Office, Dublin, and later assistant librarian and keeper of records at the same. He considered the work as "soul-subduing slavery" and pursued his natural history interests, actively associating with the local scientific circles. Ball left the civil service in 1852 with a small pension, as it was deemed he spent too much of his time on scientific pursuits than was suitable for a public servant. [1] He went on natural history excursions with William Todhunter, William Thompson, Robert Patterson, George Hyndman, and Edward Forbes apart from travels to museums in Paris and meetings in Great Britain. [3]
Ball then became a Director of the Dublin University Museum in 1844. Later on that year he was appointed Director of the Museum in Trinity College. [4] He donated his collection of 7000 bird skins to the museum. He also served as a secretary to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland from 1837 to 1857 and was responsible for making the zoo more publicly accessible with a one-penny fee for Sunday Afternoons. In 1838, Ball developed a dredge net, also known today as "Ball's dredge," to collect marine organisms. [5]
After a career in the civil service he became Director of the Dublin University Museum in 1844. He was a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and President of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland.
Dublin University conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in 1850. He became Secretary of the newly founded Queen's University of Ireland in 1851, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society. [6] On 30 March 1857 Ball died as a result of a ruptured aorta at his home at 3 Granby Row, Dublin. He is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium, Dublin. [1] [7] [5]
On 21 September 1837 he married Amelia Gresley Hellicar who was from Bristol. He met her at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Bristol the previous year. The couple had four daughters and three sons: Astronomer Royal Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Valentine Ball (1843-1895) C.B., BA, MA, LL.D., F.R.S. a geologist and naturalist, Professor at Trinity College Dublin, and Sir Charles Bent Ball (1851–1916) BA, MB, M.Ch., FRCSI, a surgeon and botanist. [1] [6] Robert encouraged his sister Mary, gifting her with a copy of J.F. Stephens' Catalogue of British Insects in 1835. [8] [5]
Ball published just about 10 papers in all but was influential in his circle through his efforts to improve outreach and initiating public lectures, particularly at the Dublin Zoo, including many by himself. He published the work on stridulation in the Corixidae by his sister Mary, giving credit to her for the original observation. [8] He also ensured that the collections of algae made by his sister Anne and insects by Mary went to the university museum collection. [5]
About 1838 Robert Ball devised a dredge net to collect marine organisms. It was used all over the world, and was so apt for its purpose that it was little modified later. It is known as Ball's dredge or more generally simply "the dredge". Ball's dredge consists of a rectangular net attached to a rectangular frame much longer than high, and furnished with rods stretching from the four corners to meet at a point where they are attached to the dredge rope. It differed from the dredge net devised by Otto Friedrich Müller in the slit-like shape of the opening, which prevents much of the " washing out " suffered by the earlier pattern, and in the edges. The long edges only are fashioned as scrapers, being wider and heavier than Muller's, especially in later dredges. The short edges are of round iron bar. [9] [10]
Sir Robert Stawell Ball was an Irish astronomer who founded the screw theory. He was Royal Astronomer of Ireland at Dunsink Observatory.
Valentine Ball was an Irish geologist, son of Robert Ball (1802–1857) and a brother of Sir Robert Ball. Ball worked in the Geological Survey of India for twenty years before returning to take up a position in Ireland.
Alexander Henry Haliday was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Thysanoptera, but worked on all insect orders and on many aspects of entomology.
Mary Ball (1812–1898) was an Irish naturalist and entomologist most noted for her studies of Odonata and for her discovery of the stridulation in aquatic bugs in the family Corixidae.
William Thompson was an Irish naturalist celebrated for his founding studies of the natural history of Ireland, especially in ornithology and marine biology. Thompson published numerous notes on the distribution, breeding, eggs, habitat, song, plumage, behaviour, nesting and food of birds. These formed the basis of his four-volume The Natural History of Ireland, and were much used by contemporary and later authors such as Francis Orpen Morris.
John Templeton (1766–1825) was a pioneering Irish naturalist, sometimes referred to as the "Father of Irish Botany". He was a leading figure in Belfast's late eighteenth-century enlightenment, initially supported the United Irishmen, and figured prominently in the town's scientific and literary societies.
Robert Lloyd Praeger was an Irish naturalist, writer and librarian.
William Henry Harvey, FRS FLS was an Irish botanist and phycologist who specialised in algae.
George Crawford Hyndman (1796–1867) was an Irish auctioneer and amateur biologist.
Arthur Adams was an English physician and naturalist.
William Spotswood Green was an Irish naturalist, who specialised in marine biology.
Edward Percival (Perceval) Wright FRGSI was an Irish ophthalmic surgeon, botanist and zoologist.
Robert Francis Scharff was an English zoologist, known for his lifetime of work in Ireland and contributions to the understanding of Irish flora and fauna. He was acting director of the National Museum of Ireland from 1916 to 1922.
George Philip Farran (1876–1949) was an Irish zoologist. He was an expert on Copepoda.
The marine biology dredge is used to sample organisms living on a rocky bottom or burrowing within the smooth muddy floor of the ocean (benthic) species. The dredge is pulled by a boat and operates at any depth on a cable or line, generally with a hydraulic winch. The dredge digs into the ocean floor and bring the animals to the surface where they are caught in a net that either follows behind or is a part of the digging apparatus.
Anne Elizabeth Ball (1808–1872) was an Irish botanist, amateur algologist, and botanical illustrator. Born in Cobh 1808, Ball was a sister of naturalist Robert Ball (1802–1857) and zoologist Mary Ball (1812–1898). The siblings became interested in natural history through the passion of their father, Bob Stawell Ball.
Robert MacAndrew was a British merchant and ship-owner, marine dredger, Fellow of the Royal Society, naturalist and collector of shells.
David Moore was a Scottish botanist who served as director of the Irish National Botanic Gardens for over 40 years.
Jane Stephens was an Irish zoologist who was considered a leading authority on sponges in Ireland with specialised knowledge in other marine life who identified and named over 40 sponges new to science. From 1905 to 1920 she was employed in the Natural History Division of the National Museum of Ireland working primarily on the collections of marine invertebrates, including taking part in the Clare Island Survey. Robert Lloyd Praeger testified to her knowledge of and work with Irish sponges stating that "Most of what we know of this group, whether marine or fresh-water, in Ireland, or off the Irish coasts, is due to her work."
Annie Letitia Massy was a self-taught marine biologist, ornithologist, and an internationally recognised expert on molluscs, in particular cephalopods. She was one of the founders of the Irish Society for the Protection of Birds in 1904. Many of the details of her life are unknown which is attributed to the fact that she is often described as a shy and retiring person, with no known photograph of her in existence.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Ball, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.