William James Stewart Lockyer (3 January 1868 – 15 July 1936) was an English astronomer and physicist. His work included studies on sunspot cycles and is remembered for what is now known as the

Brückner-Egeson-Lockyer cycle The Brückner-Egeson-Lockyer cycle is a climatic cycle of approximately 30-40 years. Originally described by Charles Egeson on the basis of periodic flooding events in southern Australia that correlated with sunspot activity. It was supported by W ...

. William was the fifth son of Sir

Norman Lockyer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (17 May 1836 – 16 August 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen, he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the f ...

and his wife Winifred née James. He was educated at Cheltenham;

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

;

Royal College of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...

, London; and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. His doctoral work of 1896 was on the variable η Aquilae. He worked with his father initially examining sunspot periodicity and weather correlations. He then travelled around the world following eclipses from 1896 to 1932. He was involved in the establishment of the International Meteorological Committee. In 1920 he succeeded his father as director at the newly renamed

Norman Lockyer Observatory The Norman Lockyer Observatory, the Lockyer Technology Centre, and the Planetarium (jointly NLO), is a public access optical observatory east of Sidmouth, East Devon in South West England. It houses a number of historical optical telescopes, in ...

in Sidmouth. Lockyer was known for his work on sunspot cycles.
In 1921 he married Kate Irene widow of Mr. William Shaw Wright and daughter of Mr. Alfred Talbot, of Southend on Sea, who survived him.
He collapsed while walking down the drive leading to the house of his step-mother, Lady Thomazine Lockyer, at Salcombe Hill, Sidmouth and died suddenly on 15 July 1936.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockyer, William James Stewart 19th-century British astronomers 1868 births 1936 deaths University of Göttingen alumni 20th-century British astronomers