»	Landmarks in the History of Science » Physics-Astronomy » Note on the Photographic Spectrum of the Great Nebula in Orion - Inscribed ''From the Authors''

Note on the Photographic Spectrum of the Great Nebula in Orion, 1890, Inscribed ''From the Authors''

On a Re-determination of the Principal Line in the Spectrum of the Nebula in Orion, and on the Character of the Line - inscribed ''From the Authors''

Note on the Photographic Spectra of Uranus and Saturn - inscribed ''From the Authors''

Note on the Photographic Spectrum of the Great Nebula in Orion - Inscribed ''From the Authors''

Autor: William Huggins and Mrs. [Margaret] Huggins

Cod: 7696
In stoc: Nu

0.00Lei

Detalii produs An offprint from the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 48, 1890, pp. 213-216; fine condition

We added two more offprints:

2. On a Re-determination of the Principal Line in the Spectrum of the Nebula in Orion, and on the Character of the Line - inscribed ''From the Authors'' - Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 48, 1890, pp. 202-213; fine condition

3. Note on the Photographic Spectra of Uranus and Saturn - inscribed ''From the authors'' - Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 46, 1889, pp. 232-233; good condition

The work of Margaret and William Huggins underpinned the rise of the new astronomy - the astrophysics - by means of spectrographic data.

''Like many upper-middle class Victorians, Huggins was attracted to the recreational study of science: he bought periodicals and popular works, attended public lectures, tinkered with instruments, at home, and socialized whithin some of the dozens of scientific societies open to any who could pay the fees. Unlike so many who were similarly inclined, however, Huggins would eventually rise to the very top of British scientific society.
During his long life, Huggins moved - slowly at first but then with remarkable momentum - from the periphery of the astronomical community to the very center; he would rise from a crowd of amateurs to become the president of the Royal Astronomical Society, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and, eventually, the Royal Society of London.''
Jessica Ratcliff, Journal of the History of Science Society, Vol. 105, No. 2, 2014

''William Huggins was one of the towering figures of his age. Self-taught and self-made, he had begun his researches in stellar spectroscopy in his own observatory which he built in 1856 at his house in Tulse Hill on the south-west of London. [...] He was able to devote himself entirely to astronomy from that time onwards. Folowing his successes in stellar spectroscopy in which be identified many chemical elements in the stars, he turned his attention to the spectra of nebulae and made the momentuos discovery of the gaseous nature of planetary nebulae and of objects like the Orion Nebula. He was also the first to show that radial velocities of stars could be observed from the Doppler shift of lines in their spectra, and the first to observe the spectrum of a nova.''
Mary Bruck, Companions in Astronomy; Irish Astronomical Journal, Vol. 20(2), 1991, p. 70

It is very important to note that all these offprints are coauthored by Margaret Huggins, and inscribed ''From the Authors" (plural).
The couple were married in 1875. The marriage has been described as ''one of the most successful husband-and-wife partnership in the whole astronomy''.

See the Barbara J. Becker's excellent lecture: http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/ExploringtheCosmos/week7b.html
See also an exceptional dissertation on this topic: https://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/huggins/index.html