Edward Walter Maunder

thumb|Edward Walter Maunder Edward Walter Maunder (April 12, 1851 – March 21, 1928) was an English astronomer best remembered for his study of sunspots and the solar magnetic cycle that led to his identification of the period from 1645 to 1715 that is now known as the Maunder Minimum. Quotes It seems impossible to believe that Life, so rare a fruit of the universe, intelligent Life, conscious Life, to which the long course of evolution has been so manifestly leading up all through the long ages, should have no better destiny than a final and hopeless extinction; that this Earth and all the efforts and aspirations of the long generations of men should have no worthier end than to swing, throughout the eternal ages, an empty, frozen heap of dust, circling round the extinct cinder that was once its Sun. If we look backward, we seem to discern clear signs of progress; if we look forward, we discern nothing but the veil. Science is but organized experience, and experience of the future we have none. Maunder, E. Walter Are the Planets Inhabited? 1913 Harper and Brothers New York http://books.google.com/books?id=1OBHAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=maunder+edward&as_brr=1 External links Category:Astronomers from England Category:People from London Category:1851 births Category:1928 deaths