William Huggins (1910)

Sir William Huggins, OM, FRS (February 7 1824 – May 12 1910) was an English astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy.

Life and work

William Huggins was born at Cornhill, Middlesex in 1824 and was the husband of Margaret Lindsay Huggins, a capable astronomer in her own right. She encouraged her husband's photography and helped to systemise their research.

He built a private observatory at 90 Upper Tulse Hill, South London from where they carried out extensive observations of the spectral emission lines and absorption lines of various celestial objects. He was the first to distinguish between nebulas and galaxies by showing that some (like the Orion Nebula) had pure emission spectra characteristic of gas, while others like the Andromeda Galaxy had spectra characteristic of stars. Huggins was assisted in the analysis of spectra by his neighbour, the chemist William Allen Miller.

Huggins was president of the Royal Society between 1900 and 1905.

He died in 1910 and was buried at Golders Green Cemetery.

Honours and awards

Awards

• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1867 with William Allen Miller, 1885)
• Copley Medal (1898)
• Henry Draper Medal (1901)
• Bruce Medal (1904)

Named after him

• Huggins crater on the Moon
• Crater on Mars
• Asteroid 2635 Huggins

Publications

Caricature of Huggins by Leslie Ward in Vanity Fair

• Spectrum analysis in its application to the heavenly bodies. Manchester, 1870 (Science lectures for the people; series 2, no. 3)
• (with Lady Huggins): An Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra from \lambda4870 to \lambda3300, together with a discussion of the evolution order of the stars, and the interpretation of their spectra; preceded by a short history of the observatory. London, 1899 (Publications of Sir William Huggins's Observatory; v. 1)
• The Royal Society, or, Science in the state and in the schools. London, 1906.
• The Scientific Papers of Sir William Huggins; edited by Sir William and Lady Huggins. London, 1909 (Publications of Sir William Huggins's Observatory; v. 2)

See also

• Planetary nebula

External links

• Huggins, Sir William (1824?1910) Barbara J. Becker, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 (subscription required)
• Dissertation on William and Mary Huggins by Barbara J. Becker
• Audio description of Huggins' work

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