Warren De La Rue
Warren De La Rue ( born January 18, 1815 in St. Peter Port in Guernsey, † April 19, 1889 in London) was a British chemist, inventor and amateur astronomer. He became famous for the first heaven photographs.
Life and work
Warren De La Rue was the eldest son of a total of 10 siblings ( of which only six reached adulthood ) in 1815 on the Channel Island of Guernsey born. In 1818 his parents moved back to the mainland and settled in Shoreditch near London down. His father Thomas promised more business from the big city and his first business was the production of ' Legorn ' straw hats. In 1830 he founded with Samuel Cornish and William skirt a company for the manufacture of playing cards, and received the royal patent. The following year, they printed the first set of cards. Their premises were in 110 Bunhill Row, London where they operated a wholesale business for more stationery. Warren was sent to Paris for his education at the Collège Sainte -Barbe, as his father preferred the French school of English.
Warren showed an early interest in anything mechanical or electrical. He also had a special talent for drawing and began very carefully to draw everything he saw and wanted to describe. At age 21 he wrote his first scientific article on " Voltaic Electricity and on the effects of a Battery charged with Sulphate of Copper ," which was published in December 1836 in the " Philosophical Magazine ".
By the census of 1841, we learn that Warren had married on February 17, 1840 Georgiana Duchess of Cornwall, who was also born on Guernsey, and that he was employed in his father's business.
The first written testimony about de La Rue's interest in astronomy is a brief note in the edition of the Royal Astronomical Society from December 1850: " A very nice drawing of Saturn by Mr. De La Rue, which he in his 13-inch (33 cm) has seen reflecting telescope, is featured in the January meeting. It confirms completely the discovery of Mr. Bond and the drawing of Mr. Dawes. " He was by his great passion for astronomy with the then leading men, especially James Nasmyth and William Lassell friends and more importantly, he had the astronomical elite Royal Astronomical Society so impressed that they chose him on March 14, 1850 as a Fellow.
At the World Exhibition of 1851 introduced Warren from his machine for the manufacture of envelopes, which he had designed five years earlier. As fate would have it that close to him the photographs of the Moon by William Cranch Bond, director of the Harvard College Observatory, and the daguerreotypists John Adams Whipple were seen. That was the turning point in de la Rue's life. From now on, he was interested not only in astronomy but especially for astrophotography.
The census of 1851 shows that Warren de La Rue with his family to no. 7 St. Mary's Street, Canonbury, Islington, is warped. His family consists of a daughter and two sons, to whom should get two more. We learn about his profession that he worked in the fields of chemistry, mechanics, card manufacturing, engineering and wholesale of stationery and a total of 410 people employed. 1857 drew Warren de La Rue to Cranford in Middlesex (now near the runway of Heathrow Airport ), where he an observatory for his telescope built himself.
When his interest was aroused for astronomy by James Nasmyth, he constructed in 1850 a 13-inch reflecting telescope, which was initially built in Canonbury and later in Cranford. With this telescope, he made a number of excellent drawings of celestial bodies.
As a result, he pioneered work in establishing photography in astronomical research and his paintings have long been second to none - only Lewis Morris Rutherfurd was able to increase the quality after 1865.
After 1854, he turned to the physics of the sun and constructed a photo Helio Count to customize from 1858 daily photographs of the sun. He carried this work out to 1872 itself, 1873-1882, they were continued by the Royal Greenwich Observatory. On 18 July 1860 he photographed a solar eclipse in Spain, where the images were able to prove the origin of the solar red flames for the first time, which are visible during a solar eclipse at the Moon's shadow around.
In 1873 he gave up the active astronomy and handed his instruments to the University Observatory at Oxford, which he gave in 1887 a 13- inch refractor.
Between 1856 and 1862 he published together with Hugo Müller several chemical works and examined 1868-1883 electrical discharges in gases.
He was twice president of the Chemical Society of London, and from 1864 to 1866 and President of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Warren was the Royal Society awards for his photographic images of the solar eclipse in 1862 with the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1864 and the Royal Medal for his achievements in astronomical photography.
In 1850 he was elected as a member ( "Fellow" ) to the Royal Society.
According to him, the moon crater De La Rue is named.
Works
- Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives, Papers of Warren De La Rue, RGO 73