Ralph Copeland

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Ralph Copeland (September 3, 1837 - October 27, 1905) was a Scottish astronomer and was appointed the 3rd Astronomer Royal for Scotland.

He was born at Moorside Farm, near Woodplumpton in Lancashire, and attended Kirkham Grammar School. He spent 5 years in Australia where he discovered his interest in astronomy, he returned in 1858 to pursue a career in engineering.

Eager to increase his astronomical interests, he built a small observatory and gave up engineering, and then travelled to Germany to study astronomy at the University of Gottingen. When he returned to the UK as a patron of Lord Rosse, he brought back German methods of astronomy, later on he would appoint many German astronomers as assistants, such as Oswald Lohse.

Copeland then worked at the Dun Echt Observatory owned by the Earl of Crawford. He was a frequent traveller on worldwide expeditions and observed the 1874 and 1882 transitions of Venus from Mauritius and Chile, as well as other astronomical observations from Greenland.

On January 29, 1889, Copeland became Astronomer Royal for Scotland, whereupon he first worked in Observatory House, Edinburgh, he was tasked to select a site for a new observatory, eventually choosing Blackford Hill, Edinburgh. Lord Crawford, his former benefactor, donated the astronomical collection from Dun Echt to the new site, which was opened in 1896.

He served as Astronomer Royal until his death in 1905 and was buried in Morningside Cemetery in Edinburgh.

Copeland discovered 35 NGC objects, most of them with Lord Rosse's 72" reflector. Planetary Nebulae were found by visual spectroscopy at Dun Echt and during an Andes expedition. Seven of the galaxies in Leo form the famous "Copeland Septet": NGC 3745, 3746, 3748, 3750, 3751, 3753, and 3754.

Copeland was married twice and had six children, he was also fluent in French, German and Persian.