William Lassell
William Lassell (born June 18, 1799 in Bolton , England , † October 5, 1880 in Maidenhead , England) was a British astronomer .
Life
William Lassell ran a brewery after completing his commercial training . Their economic success enabled him to pursue his interest in astronomy . He built an observatory near Liverpool with a 60 cm reflector telescope , which was known for its novel equatorial mount for easy tracking of the starry sky . He polished and assembled his optics using machines he designed himself.
On October 10, 1846, he discovered Triton , the largest moon on the planet Neptune , just 17 days after Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet . In 1848 he discovered Hyperion , the eighth moon of Saturn, independently of William Cranch Bond and George Phillips Bond . In 1851 he discovered two new moons of Uranus , which were named " Ariel " and " Umbriel " after a suggestion by the astronomer John Herschel .
When the British Queen Victoria visited Liverpool in 1851, Lassell was the only person she specifically wished to meet. In 1855 he built a 120 cm telescope, which he installed on the island of Malta for better observation conditions .
In 1849 Lassell received the gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society . In 1858 he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society . From 1870 to 1872 he was the President of the Royal Astronomical Society . In 1849 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .
William Lassell died in Maidenhead on October 5, 1880.
In his memory, a crater ( Lassell ) on the Earth's moon and the planet Mars and the asteroid (2636) Lassell were named after him. The same applies to Mount Lassell on Alexander I Island in Antarctica since 1961 .
Web links
- Publications by W. Lassell in the Astrophysics Data System
- Obituaries for W. Lassell in the Astrophysics Data System
- Biography (English)
- William Lassell with Wolfgang Steinicke
- Spektrum.de: Who was it? Brewing beer for research , February 2013.
- NN: Death notice. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 98 (1880), p. 207 (obituary to W. Lassell)
Individual evidence
- ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 30, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lassell, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 18, 1799 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bolton , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 5, 1880 |
| Place of death | Maidenhead , England |