James Bradley FRS (1693 – 13 July 1762) was an English astronomer.^[1] He was born in Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England.^[1] Bradley was educated at Northleach Grammar School and at Balliol College, Oxford.^[2] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1714 and a Master of Arts in 1717.^[1]

He became a member of the clergy and received an income at Bridstow in Herefordshire.^[3] Because of his friendship with Edmond Halley, in 1718 he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society.^[3] He gave up his living at Bridstow to become a professor at Oxford in 1721.^[3] Bradley succeeded Edmond Halley as Astronomer Royal at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in 1742.^[3] He held this post until his death in 1762.^[3]In 1729 he published his discovery of the aberration of light (also called astronomical aberration).^[2] This was he first observational proof of the Copernican Hypothesis that the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System and not the Earth. He noticed a motion in the stars that did not fit the accepted pattern of the time.^[4] What he discovered was stellar aberration.^[4] In 1748 he published his discovery.^[3] That same year he was awarded the Copley Medal from the Royal Society for his discovery.^[3]