Edward Ball Knobel (21 October 1841 - 25 July 1930) was an English businessman and amateur astronomer. He was born in London, England. In 1872, he purchased an 8.5 inch reflecting telescope to further his interest in astronomy. His work on a publication about the chronology of star catalogues in 1875 let him to study the work of early Arab astronomers and learn some Arabic and Persian. In 1879 he published a translation of Ulugh Beg's catalogue from a Persian manuscript. He then prepared a new edition of the star catalogue in the Almagest using all available sources in Greek, Arabic and Latin. A crater on Mars was named in his honour. Read more