Edward Ball Knobel (21 October 1841 – 25 July 1930) was an English businessman and amateur astronomer. He was born in London, England. He started to study law but his love of geology made him change to the Government School of Mines (now part of Imperial College London) in 1861. In 1862, he changed his career again, starting to work for Bass & Co. at Burton upon Trent as an analytical chemist in the brewery department. He rose to become a manager and . He then became a manager of a Courtauld's silk factory at Bocking in 1875. His final position was with the Ilford Photographic Company.