Thomas Digges, an English mathematician and astronomer, died in London on 24 August 1595. He was one of the earliest English supporters of Copernican astronomy. He published the first English account of the Copernican system.

Born in Kent around 1546, Digges was the son of the mathematician and surveyor Leonard Digges. After his father’s death, he received further mathematical instruction from John Dee.

In 1576 Digges published A Perfit Description of the Caelestiall Orbes as an addition to one of his father’s works. It presented parts of Copernicus’s description of a universe in which the Earth and planets travelled around the Sun.

Digges went further in his treatment of the stars. Rather than placing them on a fixed outer sphere, he pictured them at different distances extending through infinite space. His diagram retained features of older cosmology while removing a definite outer boundary for the stars.

Astronomy formed only part of Digges’s career. He also wrote on mathematics, served as a Member of Parliament and worked in military administration, including service connected with English forces in the Low Countries.

Digges was buried at St Mary Aldermanbury in London.