Watchers of the Sky

Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) was an English poet and author of The Highwayman and The Barrel Organ. Noyes began The Watchers of the Sky one evening when he had the unforgettable experience of being on a summit of the Sierra Madre Mountains, when the first trial was made of the100-inch telescope. The poem talks of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, William Herschel and Sir John Herschel. Noyse's poem is unique in that he writes of fact and not fiction. He links these men together in verse and at the same time tells a story of historical significance.