Joseph Norman Lockyer

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Joseph Norman Lockyer
from Proceedings of the Royal Society (1909)
from Proceedings of the Royal Society (1909)
Born May 17, 1836(1836-05-17)
Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Died August 16, 1920 (aged 84)
Salcombe Regis, Devon, England
Nationality England
Fields Astronomy
Known for Discovery of helium

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, FRS (May 17, 1836 – August 16, 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the founder and first editor of the influential journal Nature.

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[edit] Biography

Lockyer was born in Rugby, Warwickshire. After a conventional schooling supplemented by travel in Switzerland and France, he worked for some years as a civil servant in the British War office. He settled in Wimbledon, south London after marrying Winifred James. A keen amateur astronomer with a particular interest in the Sun, Lockyer eventually became director of the solar physics observatory in Kensington London.

In the 1860s Lockyer became fascinated by electromagnetic spectroscopy as an analytical tool for determining the composition of heavenly bodies. During the solar eclipse of October, 1868, Lockyer observed a prominent yellow line from a spectrum taken near the edge of the Sun. With a wavelength of about 588 nm, slightly less than the so-called "D" lines of sodium. the line could not be explained as due to any material known at the time, and so it was suggested by Lockyer that the yellow line was caused by an unknown solar element. He named this element helium after the Greek word 'Helios' meaning 'sun'. An observation of the new yellow line also was made by Janssen at the same eclipse, and so he and Lockyer usually are awarded joint credit for helium's discovery. Terrestrial helium was found about 10 years later by William Ramsay. In his work on the identification of helium, Lockyer collaborated with the noted chemist Edward Frankland.[1]

To facilitate the transmission of ideas between scientific disciplines, Lockyer established the general science journal Nature in 1869. He remained its editor until shortly before his death.

After his retirement in 1911, Lockyer established an observatory near his home in Salcombe Regis near Sidmouth, Devon. Originally known as the Hill Observatory, the site was renamed the Norman Lockyer Observatory after his death. For a time the observatory was a part of the University of Exeter, but is now owned by the East Devon District Council, and run by the Norman Lockyer Observatory Society. The Norman Lockyer Chair in Astrophysics at the University of Exeter is currently held by Professor Tim Naylor, who heads a star formation group there.

Lockyer died at his home in Salcombe Regis in 1920, and was buried there in the churchyard of St Peter and St Mary.[2][3]

[edit] Publications

  • The Rules of Golf: Being the St. Andrews Rules for the Game (1896), with William Rutherford

[edit] Honours and awards

  • Fellow of the Royal Society (1869)
  • Janssen Medal, Paris Academy of Science (1875)
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (1897)[4]
  • President, British Association (1903 – 1904)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hearnshaw, J. B. (1986). The Analysis of Starlight. Cambridge University Press, 84 – 85. 
  2. ^ Jacobson, Walter. Around the Churches of East Devon. Retrieved on 2008-01-30.
  3. ^ Edwards, D. L. (1937). "Report of the Proceedings of the Sidmouth, Norman Lockyer Observatory". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 97: 309 – 310. 
  4. ^ Meadows, A. J. (1972). Science and Controversy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 237. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Meadows, A. J. (1972). Science and Controversy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. - A biography of Lockyer
  • Wilkins, G. A. (1994). "Sir Norman Lockyer's Contributions to Science". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 35: 51 – 57. 

[edit] External links