William Edward Wilson (19 July 1851 – 6 March 1908) was an Irish astronomer.

Life

He was born at Greenisland, County Antrim, the only son of John and Frances Wilson of Daramona House, Streete, County Westmeath, Ireland and was privately educated. He became interested in astronomy and travelled to Oran in 1870 to photograph the solar eclipse. In 1871 he acquired a reflecting telescope of 12 inches (30.5 cm) aperture and set it up in a dome in the gardens of Daramona House near the village of

Streete Street or Streete ( or ''Sráid'') is a village and parish in County Westmeath, Ireland. It lies on the regional road between Lismacaffery and Rathowen. Its Irish name was historically anglicised as ''Straid'' or ''Strade''. History and develo ...

. He used it to experiment on the photography of the moon with wet plates and also began to study solar radiation using thermopiles. In 1881, he replaced the original telescope with a reflector of 24 inches (61 cm) aperture and a new dome and mounting that had an electrically controlled clock drive, from the

Grubb Telescope Company Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. Ltd. was a telescope manufacturer, more commonly known as Grubb Parsons. It was based in Newcastle upon Tyne, in England. They were a noted telescope maker throughout the 19th and 20th century, making telescope th ...

. The new telescope was mounted in a two-storey tower attached to the house with an attached physical laboratory, darkroom and machine shop. Wilson's main research efforts, in partnership with P.L. Gray, was to determine the temperature of the sun using a "differential radio-micrometer" of the sort developed by C.V. Boys in 1889, which combined a bolometer and galvanometer into one instrument. The result of their measurements was an effective temperature of about 8000 °C for the sun which, after correction to deal with absorption in the earth's atmosphere, gave a value of 6590 °C, compared to the modern value of 6075 °C. Other astronomical projects included observations on the transit of Venus, determination of stellar motion, observations of sunspots and a trip to Spain to photograph a solar eclipse. He took a great many excellent photographs of celestial bodies such as nebulae. His astronomical findings were published in a series of memoirs such as ''Experimental Observations on the Effective Temperature of the Sun.'' He was elected a fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

in 1875 and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1896. He received an honorary doctorate (

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

) from the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

in June 1901. Wilson served as

High Sheriff of Westmeath The High Sheriff of Westmeath was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Westmeath, Ireland from its creation under The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and re ...

for 1894. He died relatively young at Daramona at the age of 56 and was buried in the family plot in Steete churchyard. He had married in 1886 Caroline Ada, the daughter of Capt. R.C. Granville and had a son and two daughters. His son donated his telescope to London University, where it was used for research and teaching, finally becoming a feature in Liverpool museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, William Edward 1851 births 1908 deaths People from County Westmeath Astronomers from Northern Ireland Fellows of the Royal Society High Sheriffs of County Westmeath