English merchant and astronomer (1799–1880)
William Lassell
Born (1799-06-18 ) 18 June 1799Died 5 October 1880(1880-10-05) (aged 81) Known for Discovered the moons
Triton ,
Hyperion ,
Ariel and
Umbriel Awards Scientific career Fields
Astronomer
William Lassell
FRS
FRSE
FRSL
FRAS (18 June 1799 – 5 October 1880) was an English merchant and
astronomer .
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6] He is remembered for his improvements to the
reflecting telescope and his ensuing discoveries of four planetary satellites.
Life
William Lassell was born in
Bolton , Lancashire, on 18 June 1799. He was educated first in Bolton then at
Rochdale Academy.
[7] After the death of his father, he was apprenticed from 1814 to 1821 to a merchant in Liverpool. He then made his fortune as a beer
brewer , which enabled him to indulge his interest in
astronomy . He built an observatory at his house "
Starfield " in
West Derby , a suburb of
Liverpool . There he had a 24-inch (610 mm)
aperture metal mirror reflector
telescope (aka the "two-foot" telescope), for which he pioneered the use of an
equatorial mount for easy tracking of objects as the Earth rotates. He ground and polished the mirror himself, using equipment he constructed. The observatory was later (1854) moved further out of Liverpool, to
Bradstones .
In 1846, Lassell discovered
Triton , the largest
moon of
Neptune , just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself by German astronomer
Johann Gottfried Galle , using his self-built instrument.
[8]
[9]
[10] In 1848, he independently co-discovered
Hyperion , a moon of
Saturn .
[9]
[11] In 1851 he discovered
Ariel and
Umbriel , two moons of
Uranus .
In 1855, he built a 48-inch (1,200 mm) telescope, which he installed in
Malta because of the observing conditions that were better than in often-overcast England. While in Malta his astronomical observing assistant was
Albert Marth . On his return to the UK after several years in Malta, he moved to
Maidenhead and operated his 24-inch (610 mm) telescope in an observatory there. The 48-inch telescope was dismantled and was eventually scrapped.
[12] The 24-inch telescope was later moved to
Royal Observatory, Greenwich in the 1880s, but eventually dismantled.
[9]
Lassell was a
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) from 1839, won the
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1849, and served as its president for two years starting in 1870.
[13] He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1849 and won their
Royal Medal in 1858.
[14] Lassell was also a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).
[15] He was furthermore elected an honorary
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) and of the Society of Sciences of Upsala, and received an honorary
LL.D. degree from the
University of Cambridge in 1874.
[16]
Lassell died in
Maidenhead in 1880 and is buried at St. Luke's Church.
[17] Upon his death, he left a fortune of £80,000 (roughly equivalent to £8,500,000 in 2021). His telescope was presented to the
Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
The crater
Lassell on the
Moon , a
crater on
Mars , the
asteroid
2636 Lassell and a
ring of Neptune are named in his honour. At the
University of Liverpool the William Lassell prize is awarded to the student with the highest grades graduating the B.Sc. program in Physics with Astronomy each year.
[18]
[19]
Obituaries
See also
References
^
"Lassell, William" .
Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
^
AN 98 (1881) 108 (in German)
^
"William Lassell" .
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 41 (4): 188–191. 1881.
Bibcode :
1881MNRAS..41..188. .
doi :
10.1093/mnras/41.4.188 . Retrieved 8 November 2015 .
^
Huggins, Margaret Lindsay (1880). "The late Mr. William Lassell, LL.D., F.R.S.".
The Observatory . 3 (43): 587–590.
Bibcode :
1880Obs.....3..586H .
^
"The Late Mr. Lassell" . Astronomical Register . 18 (215): 284–285. 1880.
Bibcode :
1880AReg...18..284. Retrieved 8 November 2015 .
^ McFarland, John (2014). "Lassell, William". In Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R. (eds.).
Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers . New York:
Springer Publishing . pp. 1281–1283.
doi :
10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_828 .
ISBN
978-1-4419-9917-7 .
^
Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF) . The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2006.
ISBN
0-902-198-84-X . Archived from
the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016 .
^
Smith, Robert W. (1983).
"William Lassell and the Discovery of Neptune" .
Journal for the History of Astronomy . 14 : 30–32.
Bibcode :
1983JHA....14...30S .
doi :
10.1177/002182868301400102 .
S2CID
116099804 . Retrieved 14 November 2015 .
^
a
b
c
"The Royal Observatory Greenwich – where east meets west: Telescope: The Lassell 2-foot Reflector (1847)" . www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org . Retrieved 28 November 2019 .
^
Smith, Robert W. ; Baum, Richard (1984).
"William Lassell and the Ring of Neptune: a Case Study in Instrumental Failure" .
Journal for the History of Astronomy . 15 (1): 1–17.
Bibcode :
1984JHA....15....1S .
doi :
10.1177/002182868401500101 .
S2CID
116314854 . Retrieved 14 November 2015 .
^
"In Depth | Hyperion" . NASA Solar System Exploration . Retrieved 29 November 2019 .
^ Lassell, William (1877).
"Mr. Lassell's Great Reflector" .
The Observatory . 1 (6): 178–179.
Bibcode :
1877Obs.....1..178L . Retrieved 17 November 2015 .
^
Herschel, John (1850).
"An Address Delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, February 9, 1849, on Presenting the Honorary Medal to William Lassell, Esq. of Liverpool" .
Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society . 18 : 192–200.
Bibcode :
1850MmRAS..18..192H . Retrieved 14 November 2015 .
^
"Library and Archive Catalogue" .
Royal Society . Retrieved 30 December 2010 . [
permanent dead link ]
^
On a Method of Supporting a large Speculum, free from sensible Flexure, in all Positions – website Google Books
^
Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002
Archived 4 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine – website of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
^
[1]
Archived 13 March 2012 at the
Wayback Machine HistoryTrail.pdf (St. Luke's Church)
^
"Physics Pre-Graduation Event 2017" . Department of Physics, University of Liverpool. Retrieved 31 October 2017 .
^
"Congratulations to all of our 2014 Physics graduates" . Department of Physics, University of Liverpool. Retrieved 31 October 2017 .
^
"1880AReg...18..284. Page 284" . articles.adsabs.harvard.edu .
Bibcode :
1880AReg...18..284. Retrieved 15 November 2023 .
^
"Nature Obituary" (PDF) .
^
"1880Obs.....3..586H Page 587" . articles.adsabs.harvard.edu .
Bibcode :
1880Obs.....3..586H . Retrieved 15 November 2023 .
^
"1881MNRAS..41..188. Page 188" . articles.adsabs.harvard.edu .
Bibcode :
1881MNRAS..41..188. Retrieved 15 November 2023 .
External links
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