Valdemar Axel Firsoff was known principally as an amateur astronomer. He was born in 1910 (or 1912?) of Swedish descent, and died on 19 November 1981. He lived in Lochearnhead, Scotland, before moving to Somerset, England, where he settled in Glastonbury. Amateur astronomy, often called back yard astronomy, is a hobby whose participants enjoy observing celestial objects. ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Somerset is a county in the south-west of England. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001... Map sources for Glastonbury at grid reference ST5039 Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry spot on the Somerset Levels, 30 miles south of Bristol. ...

Axel Firsoff held an MA degree in languages and worked as a Swedish translator and in the United Kingdom Patent Office. He was a keen mountaineer and skier, as some of his earlier books reveal, and he was a ski instructor for the British Olympic Ski Team in the 1950s. He developed an interest in science, in particular geology and astronomy and this led him to publish numerous books on the moon and inner planets. The United Kingdom Patent Office is the government agency responsible for maintaining registers of intellectual property including copyright, designs, patents and trade marks in the United Kingdom. ... Mountaineering is an umbrella term that can variously be used to describe the actions of climbing, hillwalking and scrambling. ... Skiing is the activity of gliding over snow using skis (originally wooden planks, now usually made from fiberglass or related composites) strapped to the feet with ski bindings. ... Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it. ... Astronomy (Greek: αστρονομία = άστρον + νόμος, astronomia = astron + nomos, literally, law of the stars) is the science of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earths atmosphere, such as stars, planets, comets, aurora, galaxies, and the cosmic background radiation. ...

Many of his books also touched on extraterrestrial life and the nature of the mind. In Life, Mind and Galaxies, he speculated that "mind seems to be an entity of the same order as energy and matter", an idea well before its time. In other aspects of his work, such as the nature of the lunar craters, which he considered to be of volcanic rather than cosmological origin, he was later proved to be well wide of the mark. The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... Tycho crater on Earths moon. ...

Selected bibliography

• Ski Track on the Battlefield - 1942
• The Tatra Mountains - 1942
• The Unity of Europe - 1947
• The Cairngorms on Foot and Ski - 1949
• Arran With Camera and Sketchbook - 1951
• Our Neighbor World - 1953
• In the Hills of Breadalbane: Illustrated from the author's photos and drawings - 1954
• Moon Atlas - 1961
• The Surface of the Moon - 1961
• Strange World of the Moon - 1962
• The Crust Of The Earth - 1962
• Life Beyond the Earth: a study in exobiology - 1963
• Facing the Universe - 1966
• Life, Mind and Galaxies - 1967
• The Interior Planets - 1968
• The Old Moon and the New - 1969
• The World of Mars - 1969
• Gemstones of the British Isles - 1971
• Life among the Stars - 1974
• Working with Gemstones - 1974
• The Rockhound's Handbook - 1975
• The Solar Planets - 1977
• At the Crossroads of Knowledge - 1977
• The New Face of Mars - 1982

Sources

• Patrick Moore (1982), Obituary, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 23, pp. 629-630.
• Preface in Life, Mind and Galaxies (1967)
• Second-hand book web-sites including Amazon