The sun., 1910-05-13

4 fua tstrunomer, Is dead.
.-n..an Higgins was one Of the most
.-..-.r- NJ British scientific men. His
., .. nj sttainmsnts were early recog-
no. s. h., professional brethren. hut ,t
,... FOR many years after they had
know. 100 about him and his work that
,-. .. ..r came 20 know Of him and Of
t.. r.-lnr'Ion he was an astronomer
,,a l-r,trd hts own observatory and
r..,4.ry Tie could write after his
name k &. h.. q. NJ. +. r. s.. d. c. L..
n n ph. r.. H. ~, IN Nat. D. His
W.. Ilty Margaret Lindsay Ruggins.
r-H,l .-lry mrmber uf tho Royal Astro-
r.r.i.,. ~rrtsty. was his assiduous CO.
v.r... through many years and Is widely
.r.vr4. I'm author with him NJ various
w.r.- rt al-o az author OF individual
ur riI.r..u-.
VILLAIN was born in London Febru-
sry = va. and was educated az the
Cry OF London school and by private
tearfsr- rontinuing his stlidies in mathe-
ra'trs ,Iasslcs and modern languages.
natural philosophy. chemistry. electricity.
rsmeti-m and other branches of physi-
cal .cionce. with a particular turn for
astronomy. In 1852 he was elected to
tho Microzcopical Society and he gave
a,tsntion for several years to the micro
s-7nlral -tudy OF animal and vegetable
phy-iolCEv.
In 1885 he huih his observatory al his
residence a. Upper Tulse Hin. =. W
London. mounting there a TELESCOPES with
an ~inch ansrture. a. first he occupied
himself with observations of tho double
,ra-s and made careful drawings Il Mars
Juptter and saturn. hut his work oi great
-. iistinctlon was In spectrum analysis.
He was elected q fellow n the ROYAL 20
ctffv In IssS. and in 1915 he received one
II The .o,iaty's medals Tor has researches
and discoveries by meanr of the spec-
ir1scone aprhed 20 heavenly O0dies- In
I8T the ROYAL Astronomical Snciety
avarded t- gold medal jointly " SCR Will
lam and t1 nr Miller Sir William = re-
-earlhes lsd him % the conclusion that
the nepulp were not simply clusters ~
-tar- tn distant to - di=Cerned eingly.
tut Isolated aggregations Of the gaseous
mas from which the stellar system h
supposed r have been formed.
NJ d--1vered from the Spectra oi
comets That rart of their light : different
from solar light. and he proved that car
bon exist, in them. II was he who In
truiI0@d photography into astronomy
and - opennd M vast realms which tho
human eve Otherwise corld discern Moth
inc q II was not until later. however
when tha dry gelatine plate was invented.
that fhis meth1d e exploration could b.
PIT 20 ~ grete.t use. We devised a
.pect-o=co1ic method Ter observing the
I'D rrominences of the sun and proved
'fe "vistance of calcium IN them
In 1875 ha married MarEauet. daughter
q John MURRAY. a sUi ir0r oi Dublin.
Sh0 had Away been interested In a.
'r0u1my and even a. u child had made
ar.aH familiar with the constellation.
'gdisd the snnspots and r,gdo draw
mas n thorn. On her marriage she
brew herself enthusiastically into her
husbands work and gave herself un ~
% a. bis assistant IN observatory and
laboratory from that tim" IN. Being
Interested al-o In ar hRoloEv n" studied
ar theological astronomy and wrote on
That toptc A. sner altv.
After is7i when the dry plates wers
Availableg sir William gave himself
.argely - tho work ~ chta. ming photo
yraphs u the ultra violet section - the
stellar spectra. and Do" obtained important
results. BhiCh opened ueE n.lds % me
astronomer HUn0rs were bestowed on
him by many scientific bodies he W q
president of the R0ypt AstFou0n'. ca
Society. ls7G-7s: ~ the British Association
for the Advancement Of Sc.crce ir 1891
and ~ the Royal Society 1870 1876 AMONG
the medals he received we're q RoyaI
medal the Rumford and Copley medals
from the Royal society, tao from the
Royal Astronomical Society. several prizes
from the French Academy. the Wilde
medal. the Draper medal aud the Asfro-
nonicll society's Pacific medal he Wal
also a commander II the Brazilian Order
u the Rose
Jointly with Lady Huggins he published
N 1870. An Aflas of Representative
stellar Spectra. which received che
Actonian prize ~ the Royal Institution.
IN lo08 be Published The Royal society
~ Science in the State and he roto
many original papers IN the transactions
- various scientific societies. lie vas a
collector o. antique works ~ art and
Interested himself by way of recreation
70 music, botany and fishing His wife q
rscreati0ns are music. landscape painting.
wood carytnR botany gardening and
geology Her club b. the Royal Inst tu-
TN bis vas the AthenEun.