Robert Grant was born on 17 June 1814 in Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland. His father, Robert, was a tradesman. He attended Chemistry, Greek and Latin classes at King's College, Aberdeen in session 1839-1840. He then went to London to work as a bookkeeper in his brother's counting house. He held this position for four years, however, he continued to study in his spare time with the intention of eventually publishing a book on the history of astronomy. In 1854 he went to Paris and spent two years here studying and teaching astronomy. He continued his studies when he returned to London.
In 1850 he became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. His History of Physical Astronomy from the Earliest Ages to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century was published two years later and Grant became a well-respected figure in the world of astronomical research. He was appointed editor of the Society's publications and a member of the Council soon after. In 1855 King's College, Aberdeen, granted him the honorary degree of MA, while in 1865 the recently established University of Aberdeen awarded him an LLD.
He became Regius Professor of Practical Astronomy at the University of Glasgow in December 1859 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1865. He also became Director of the Observatory at the University. While Professor of Astronomy he published A Glasgow Catalogue Of Stars in 1883 and a revised edition in 1892 . He was also behind a project for controlling the public clocks in Glasgow by a direct current of electricity from the University Observatory, so they could be regulated by true Greenwich time. He died in Grantown-on-Spey on 24 October 1892.
From the guide to the Papers of Professor Robert Grant, 1814-1892, Regius Professor of Practical Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1850-1893, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
