Isaac Roberts

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Isaac Roberts

Isaac Roberts (born January 27, 1829 in Groes, Denbighshire , Wales , † July 17, 1904 in Crowborough , Sussex , England ) was a Welsh astronomer , a pioneer in the field of photography of astronomical nebulae . He was a member of the Liverpool Astronomical Society and the Royal Geological Society . Roberts was honored with the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1895 .

Life

Roberts was the child of William Roberts, a farmer. Born in Groes, Denbighshire, Wales and spent part of his childhood here, he soon made his way to Liverpool . There he began his professional training in 1844 with John Johnson & Son, later Johnson & Robinson, an engineering firm for mechanics. In 1847 he became a partner. In addition to his work, he attended evening school. After the death of Peter Robinson in 1855, Roberts became manager of the company. With the death of the other partner, John Johnson, Roberts became managing director. He was very successful and earned a reputation for being one of the best engineers in the area.

Isaac Roberts married his first wife, Ellen Anne, in 1875.

In 1878 Roberts bought a 7-inch refractor . He used the telescope at his home in Rocky Ferry, Birkenhead . In 1883 he began to experiment with astrophotography . He initially used portrait lenses with a diameter of up to 20 cm. Motivated by the results, he ordered a 50 cm Newtonian telescope with a silver-plated glass mirror and mounted the photo plate directly in the primary focus, 2.50 m from the mirror. Two years later he built an observatory for this.

Isaac Roberts' Observatory and House in Crowborough , Sussex

With this instrument he made significant advances in the young field of astrophotography; in the following year he had taken 200 pictures of stars, the Orion Nebula , the Andromeda Galaxy and the Pleiades .

In 1901 Isaac Roberts married the almost 30 years younger American astronomer Dorothea Klumpke , who continued his work after his death and published an atlas of his nebula photographs in 1929.

Roberts died suddenly in Crowborough , Sussex , England in 1904 at the age of 75. His ashes were buried in Crowborough, and five years later transferred to Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, Birkenhead. Roberts was a patriot of his native Wales , and used the Welsh language all his life. He bequeathed a substantial amount to Cardiff University , Bangor University , and the University of Liverpool . His epitaph says:

"In memory of Isaac Roberts, Fellow of the Royal Society, one of England's pioneers in the domain of Celestial Photography. Born at Groes, near Denbigh, January 27, 1829, died at Starfield, Crowboro, Sussex, July 17, 1904, who spent his whole life in the search after Truth, and the endeavor to aid the happiness of others. Heaven is within us. This stone is erected in loving devotion by his widow Dorethea Roberts née Klumpke. "

The Andromeda Nebula and the Californian Nebula NGC 1499 , both of which he photographed, are engraved on the granite monument of his grave (in addition to Egyptian motifs) .

Services

Roberts constructed an automatic tracking system for his telescope to compensate for the rotation of the earth and to enable longer exposure times. This made it possible to capture objects that were previously impossible to observe due to their low luminosity. His photographs also contributed to the elucidation of the structure of nebulae, in particular the image of the Andromeda Nebula from December 29, 1888. In addition to his work on stars, star clusters and nebulae, he also developed a machine, which he called Stellar Pantograver , which was used to engrave from star positions in copper plates was possible.

The following gallery shows a selection of images from Robert's work "A Selection of Photographs of Stars, Star-Clusters and Nebulae" :

Web links

Commons : Isaac Roberts  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John North Cosmos , University of Chicago Press 2002, p. 521
personal data
SURNAME Roberts, Isaac
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH Groes, Denbighshire , Wales
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1904
Place of death Crowborough , Sussex , England