Abstract

Between 1875 and 1910 Sir Robert Stawell Ball gave an estimated 2,500 lectures in towns and cities all over the British Isles and abroad. This paper traces his lecturing career from its beginnings in Ireland to the triumphs of the Royal Institution, and on lecture tours in the United States of America. After a period in mathematics and mechanics, he became a populariser of science, especially astronomy, and found fame and fortune among the working classes and the aristocracy. What motivated him to tireless travels is uncertain, but it might have been that it was rewarding, financially and to his reputation. Whatever his motives, contemporary accounts are clear that BallÕs lectures were extremely popular and well-received.