Robert Blair (astronomer)

Robert Blair FRSE (1748 – 22 December 1828) was a Scottish astronomer.

He was born in Garvald, East Lothian, the son of Rev Archibald Blair, the local minister.

In 1773 he was apprenticed to Dr Francis Balfour, a naval surgeon, and served in the Royal Navy in the West Indies.

On return to Scotland he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and qualified as a doctor in 1785.

Robert Blair was the first Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh (1785 until death).