William Rutter Dawes (19 March 1799 – 15 February 1868) was an English astronomer.
William Rutter Dawes | |
|---|---|
 A photograph, c. 1863 | |
| Born | 19 March 1799 |
| Died | 15 February 1868 (aged 68) |
| Citizenship | English |
| Awards | Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1855) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
Biography
editDawes was born at Christ's Hospital[1] then in the City of London (it moved to Horsham, West Sussex in 1902),[2] the son of William Dawes, also an astronomer, and Judith Rutter.[3] He qualified as a doctor in 1825. On 29 October 1828 he was ordained pastor at an Independent chapel in Burscough Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire,[4] formerly part of a silk factory.[4] A new chapel, in Chapel Street, was opened in 1834.[4] Dawes resigned as pastor in December 1837 due to ill health.[4] When, in 1843, the chapel got into financial difficulties due to the debt owing after its construction, Dawes came to their aid.[4]
Astronomy
edit
Dawes made extensive measurements of double stars as well as observations of planets. He was a friend of William Lassell. He was nicknamed "eagle eyed".[5] He set up his private observatory at his home, Hopefield House, built 1856-7[6] in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. One of his telescopes, an eight-inch (200mm) aperture refractor by Cooke, survives at the Cambridge Observatory, now part of the Institute of Astronomy where it is known as the Thorrowgood Telescope.[7]
He made extensive drawings of Mars during its 1864 opposition. In 1867, Richard Anthony Proctor made a map of Mars based on these drawings. Proctor named two features after Dawes.[8]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1830 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1865, for his astronomical work.[9] Proposers for his Royal Society Fellowship included G B Airy and J F W Herschel.[9]
Awards
editHe won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1855.[10]
Legacy
editDawes[11] craters on the Moon and Dawes[12] crater on Mars are named after him, as is a gap within Saturn's C Ring,[13] formerly labelled 1.495 RS.[14]
An optical phenomenon, the Dawes limit, is named after him.
Family
editDawes married twice. His first wife was Mary Scott née Egerton (1764-1840). They married on 13 January 1824 at Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.[15] She was the widow of his tutor, Thomas Scott.[16] On 28 July 1842 Dawes married Ann Welsby née Coupland (1805-1860).[16] She was the widow of Ormskirk solicitor John Welsby (1800-1839)[16] whom she had married on 16 January 1824.[17]
| William Rutter Dawes' grave, St Mary's Church, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. | |
|---|---|
REV DR WILLIAM RUTTER DAWES FRAS FRS
BORN 19 MAR 1799 DIED 15 FEB 1868 |
 |
Selected writings
edit- Dawes, William Rutter (1849). The Stars in Six Maps, on the Gnomonic Projection. C. Knight. Bibcode:1849ssmg.book.....D.
References
edit- ^ "MNRAS..29 Page 116".
- ^ Christ's Hospital Museum Retrieved 15 October 2021
- ^ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Nightingale, Benjamin, Lancashire nonconformity, or, Sketches, historical & descriptive, of the Congregational and old Presbyterian churches in the county. John Heywood, 1890-1893, p200-2
- ^ Proctor, R A, "Canals on the Planet Mars", The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 14 April, 1882, p7, column 7.
- ^ Sharp, Steve, with Wellby, Michael, "Hopefield House, Station Rd and the Rev Dr WR Dawes", The Haddenham Chronicles, No 2, Autumn 2006, Haddenham Museum Trust, pp40-2
- ^ Institute of Astronomy - Thorrowgood Telescope
- ^ Proctor, R A, Other worlds than ours; the plurality of worlds studied under the light of recent scientific researches, 1896, opp p105
- ^ a b Dawes, William Rutter: certificate of election to the Royal Society
- ^ Address delivered by the President, G. B. Airy, Esq. F.R.S., Astronomer Royal, on presenting the Medal of the Society to the Rev. William Rutter Dawes
- ^ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Moon - Dawes - crater
- ^ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Mars - Dawes - crater
- ^ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Ring and Ring Gap Nomenclature - Saturn
- ^ Nicholson, Philip D. et al, (October 2014) "Noncircular features in Saturn’s rings II: The C ring", Icarus, Volume 241, p383 ("8. Dawes gap and embedded ringlet")
- ^ Buckinghamshire Marriage Index, findmypast (subscription required)
- ^ a b c Marriott, R A, Dawes, William Rutter (1799–1868) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (via libraries)
- ^ England Marriages 1538-1973, findmypast (subscription required)
Further reading
edit- Ashbrook, Joseph (1984). The Astronomical Scrapbook. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Publishing. pp. 360–365. (Adapted from Sky & Telescope, July 1973, page 27)
- Hoskin, Michael (1970–1980). "Dawes, William Rutter". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 605–606. ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9.
External links
edit
- Clerke, Agnes Mary (1888). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 14. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 217–218.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1855, 15, 148 - Awarding of RAS gold medal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1869, 29, 116 - Obituary
- The Observatory, 1913, 36, 419 - Brief biography
- McKim, R., Marriott, R. A., "Dawes' Observations Of Mars, 1864-65", Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.98, no.6, p.294-300, October 1988.