Bradley, James (1693-1762), was an English astronomer. His extraordinary talent for precise observation led him to two great discoveries, the aberration of light and the nutation (nodding motion) of the earth’s axis (see Aberration ). Bradley was born in March 1693, at Sherbourne, Gloucestershire. He was a professor of astronomy at Oxford University, England’s astronomer royal, and director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. He died on July 13, 1762.
