1. Sir William Huggins was a British astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy together with his wife, Margaret.
12 Facts About William Huggins
1. 2.
William Huggins encouraged her husband's photography and helped to put their research on a systematic footing.
3.
On 29 August 1864, William Huggins was the first to take the spectrum of a planetary nebula when he analysed NGC 6543.
4.
William Huggins was the first to distinguish between nebulae and galaxies by showing that some had pure emission spectra characteristic of gas, while others like the Andromeda Galaxy had the spectral characteristics of stars.
5.
William Huggins was the first to adopt dry plate photography in imaging astronomical objects.
6.
William Huggins later served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1876 to 1878, and received the Gold Medal again in 1885.
7.
William Huggins served as an officer of the Royal Astronomical Society for a total of 37 years, more than any other person.
8.
William Huggins was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1865, was awarded their Royal Medal, Rumford Medal and Copley Medal and delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1885.
9.
William Huggins then served as President of the Royal Society from 1900 to 1905.
10.
William Huggins died at his home in Tulse Hill, London, after an operation for a hernia in 1910 and was buried at Golders Green Crematorium.
11.
In 1856 William Huggins acquired a 5-inch diameter aperture telescope by Dollond.
12.
In 1871 William Huggins acquired an 18-inch speculum reflecting telescope from the Grubb Telescope Company.