The 24^th of November is a very significant date in the history of science. On this date an event took place that would contribute to a major change in the way humanity viewed the world and its place in it. On this day in 1639 the British astronomers Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree became the first observers to record a transit of Venus. *

If people list the supposedly great astronomers who made major contribution to the evolution of astronomy in the 17^th century they almost never mention Horrocks but they should. Born in 1618 in Toxteth Park, now part of Liverpool, Horrocks he went up to Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1632. Whilst in Cambridge he became interested in astronomy and because the mathematical sciences where not taught at that time he acquired the astronomical texts of the age and taught himself mathematics and astronomy. Wanting to acquire…