Sir William Huggins

William Huggins was born in 1824 in London. He was educated at the City of London School and under private tutors. In 1854, he joined the Royal Astronomical Society and two years later, built a private observatory at Tulse Hill, London. Using a spectroscope, a new instrument that he and William Allen Miller had devised, Huggins began to study the chemical constitution of stars, proving that some nebulae consist of luminous gas.

In 1866, Huggins made the first spectroscopic observation of a nova, discovering that it was enveloped in blazing hydrogen. He applied the Doppler effect to the measurement of stellar motions in the line of sight. In 1875, he adapted the gelatin dry-plate for making astronomical photographs; making possible exposures of any desired length, and thereafter, pioneered the combined use of spectroscopy and photography in observational astronomy. Between 1900 and 1906, Huggins served as president of the Royal Society in London. He was knighted in 1897 and was awarded many honours throughout his life. He died in 1910 in London.

From the guide to the Sir William Huggins collection, 1901-1903, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)