William Huggins

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William Huggins

Sir William Huggins, OM , FRS (February 7, 1824 – May 12, 1910) was a British astronomer.

He built a private observatory at 90 Upper Tulse Hill, South London from where he 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.

He was the husband of Margaret Lindsay Huggins, a capable astronomer in her own right. She encouraged Huggins's photography and helped systemise their research.

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

He is buried at Golders Green Cemetery.

[edit] Honours

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

[edit] Publications

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 [lambda] 4870 to [lambda] 3300, 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)