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Did Edmond Halley live to see the return of the comet named after him?
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Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley, detail of an oil painting by Richard Phillips, c. 1720; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
No, Edmond Halley did not live to see the return of the comet that now bears his name.
Although Halley correctly identified that the comets observed in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the same object returning approximately every 76 years and accurately predicted its return for 1758, he died in 1742. The comet was eventually sighted late in 1758, confirming his prediction and serving as a major triumph for the law of universal gravitation.123