William Denning celebrated in
Punch magazine Vol. 102, 9 April 1892, on the occasion of The Times newspaper commenting on Denning's discovery of a small faint
comet on Friday 18 March 1892 at
Bishopston, Bristol
Born
(1848-11-25)25 November 1848
Died
9 June 1931(1931-06-09) (aged 82)
Bristol, England
Occupation
Accountant
William Frederick Denning (25 November 1848 – 9 June 1931) was a British
amateurastronomer who achieved considerable success without formal scientific training.[1][2][3] He is known for his catalogues of
meteor radiants, observations of
Jupiter's red spot, and for the discovery of five
comets.[4] Outside astronomy, as a young man, Denning showed prowess at
cricket to the extent
W G Grace invited him to play for
Gloucestershire. However Denning's retiring nature made him decline the offer.[1]
Career
Denning devoted a great deal of time to searching for comets, and discovered five of them, including the
periodic comet72P/Denning–Fujikawa and the
lost cometD/1894 F1. The latter was the last comet discovered on British soil until the discoveries of
George Alcock.
^
abAddison, Henry Robert; Oakes, Charles Henry; Lawson, William John; Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton (1907).
"DENNING, William F."Who's Who. 59: 470.
^Kelly, Howard L.; Gale, W. F.; Evershed, M. A.; Porthouse, William; Ryves, P. M.; Peek, B. M.; Davidson, M.; Prentice, J. P. M.; Kellaway, G. F.; Housman, W. B.; Porter, J. G.; Reade, Vera (1947).
"The British Astronomical Association: The First Fifty Years"(PDF). Memoirs of the British Astronomical Association. 36: 55.
Bibcode:
1947MmBAA..36C..55K.
^"Prix Valz". Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences. Vol. Tomes XCII à CXXI, 3 Janvier 1881 à 30 Décembre 1895. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. 1900. pp. 1574–1575.