Huggins
SIR WILLIAM, an English spectroscopist; born in London, England, Feb. 7, 1824. In 1852 he was elected a member of the Microscopical Society, and for some years labored at the study of physiology, animal and vegetable, with the microscope. In 1855 at his private observatory he began the study of the physical constitution of stars, planets, comets, and nebulæ. By researches on the sun's spectra and the spectra of certain comets, he ascertained that the luminous properties of the former are not the same as the luminous properties of the latter. After 1875 he was engaged in photographing the ultraviolet parts of the spectra of the stars. He also determined the amount of heat that reaches the earth from some of the fixed stars. He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society 1876-1878; president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 1891. In 1874 he became corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and three years later corresponding member of the Royal Society of Göttingen. He died May 12, 1910.