Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse, (17 November 1840 – 29 August 1908) was a member of the

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

and an amateur astronomer. His name is often given as Laurence Parsons.

Biography

He was born at Birr Castle, Parsonstown, King's County, Ireland, the son and heir of the

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse who built the "

Leviathan of Parsonstown Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, is a historic reflecting telescope of aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the Hooker Telescope in California in 1917. The Rosse six-f ...

" telescope, largest of its day, and his wife, the Countess of Rosse (née Mary Field), an amateur astronomer and pioneering photographer. Lawrence succeeded his father in 1867 and was educated first at home by tutors, like John Purser, and after at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He was the brother of Charles Algernon Parsons, inventor of the

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

. He served as Chancellor of the University of Dublin between 1885 and 1908. He was Lord Lieutenant of King's County and Custos Rotulorum of King's County from 1892 to his death. He was also a Justice of the Peace for the county and was appointed High Sheriff of King's County for 1867–68. He was knighted KP in 1890. Lord Rosse also performed some preliminary work in association with the practices of the electrodeposition of copper sulfate upon silver films circa 1865 whilst in search of the design for a truly flat mirror to use in a telescope. However, he found it impossible to properly electroplate copper upon these silver films, as the copper would contract and detach from the underlying glass substrate. His note has been cited as one of the earliest confirmations in literature that

thin film A thin film is a layer of materials ranging from fractions of a nanometer ( monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ...

s on glass substrates experience residual stresses. He revived discussion in on his work ''Natures August 1908 edition after witnessing similar techniques used to present newly devised searchlights before the Royal Society. Although overshadowed by his father (when astronomers speak of "Lord Rosse", it is almost always the father that they refer to), he nonetheless pursued some astronomical observations of his own, particularly of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. Most notably, he discovered NGC 2. In 1880 Otto Boeddicker, a young astronomer from Germany, became his chief assistant. He was elected a

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

in December 1867 and delivered the Bakerian lecture there in 1873. He was vice-president of the society in 1881 and 1887. From 1896 he was President of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

. In May 1902 he was at Carnavon to receive the honorary degree LL.D. (Legum Doctor) from the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

during the ceremony to install the Prince of Wales (later King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

) as Chancellor of that university.

Marriage and children

He married Frances Cassandra Hawke, daughter of Edward Harvey-Hawke, 4th Baron Hawke and Frances Fetherstonhaugh, on 1 September 1870. They had three children: * William Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse (14 June 1873 – 10 June 1918), married Frances Lois Lister-Kaye, daughter of Sir Cecil Lister-Kaye, 4th Baronet and Lady Beatrice Adeline Pelham-Clinton * Hon. Geoffry Lawrence Parsons (24 May 1874 – 13 May 1956), married Margaret Betty Gladstone, daughter of Sir John Gladstone, 4th Baronet * Lady Muriel Frances Mary Parsons (13 November 1876 – 10 April 1927), married Brigadier-General Harold Maxwell Grenfell, son of Pascoe du Pre Grenfell and Sophia Grenfell

Sources

References

External links

Obituaries

MNRAS 69 (1909) 250
written by Otto Boeddicker.
Obs 31 (1908) 374

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosse, Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl Of 1840 births 1908 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Parsons, Lawrence, 4th Earl of Rosse Parsons, Lawrence, 4th Earl of Rosse Knights of St Patrick Lord-lieutenants of King's County Irish representative peers Chancellors of the University of Dublin Fellows of the Royal Society High sheriffs of King's County Earls of Rosse (1806 creation) Presidents of the Royal Irish Academy People from Birr, County Offaly Scientists from County Offaly