William Henry Stanley Monck

William Henry Stanley Monck (April 21, 1839–June 24, 1915) was an Irish astronomer and philosopher.

After becoming self-educated, he attended Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. In 1878 he became appointed as Professor of Moral Philosophy and remained in that position until 1892. On August 28, 1892, he became the first person to measure starlight electrically.[1][2]

For many years he served as Chief Registrar for the Bankruptcy Division of the High Court of Ireland. He wrote several works about logic, metaphysics and astronomy, and was the author of a collection of articles in Popular Astronomy which were later published as a book, An Introduction to Stellar Astronomy, in 1899. On April 9, 1899 he was elected to the Royal Astronomy Society.[2]

He was survived for a few months by his wife.[2] The WHS Monck Observatory at Trinity College, Dublin is named after him.[3]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Hearnshaw, J. B. (August 4-7, 1992). "Photoelectric Photometry - The First Fifty Years". In Butler, C.J.; Elliott, I.. Stellar photometry - Current techniques and future developments, Proceedings of the IAU Colloquium No. 136. Dublin, Ireland: Cambridge University Press. p. 13. Bibcode 1993spct.conf...13H. 
  2. ^ a b c "Obituary Notices: Fellows:- Monck, William Henry Stanley". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 76: 264. February 1916. Bibcode 1916MNRAS..76..264.. 
  3. ^ "WHS Monck Observatory". Trinity College. http://www.tcd.ie/Physics/Astrophysics/observatory.php. Retrieved 2011-01-27.