In 1849, Rutherfurd abandoned his study of law to dedicate his leisure toscience, particularlyastronomy. He performed pioneering work inspectral analysis, and experimented with celestialphotography. He invented instruments for his studies, including themicrometer for measuring photographs, a machine for producing improved ruleddiffraction gratings, and the first telescope designed specifically forastrophotography.[4]
Using his instrumentation, Rutherfurd produced a quality collection of photographs of the Sun, Moon, and planets, as well as star clusters and stars down to the fifth magnitude. In 1862, he began making spectroscopic studies using his new diffraction grating. He noticed distinct categories ofspectral classes of stars, whichAngelo Secchi expanded upon in 1867 to list a set of four stellar classes.[6]
Rutherfurd served as a trustee of theColumbia University from 1858 until 1884, and donated his photographs to that institution.[4]
In 1873, then PresidentUlysses S. Grant appointed Rutherfurd one of the scientific commission to attend theVienna Exposition, however, he declined the honor due to previous business engagements in the United States. In 1884, he was named by PresidentChester A. Arthur as one of the delegates to theInternational Meridian Conference which met in Washington in October, 1885.[2]
Rutherfurd Stuyvesant (1843–1909),[11][12] who was married to Mary Rutherfurd Pierrepont (1842–1879).[13][14][15] a granddaughter ofPeter Augustus Jay.[3] After her death, he married Countess Mathilde Elizabeth Loewenguth de Wassanaer (1877–1948)[16] the widow of a Dutch Count.[17]
^abc"Lewis Morris Rutherfurd"(PDF).New York Times. June 1, 1892. RetrievedJanuary 9, 2014.Lewis Morris Kutherfurd died on Decoration Day at his home, Tranquility, N.J., in the seventy-sixth [sic] year of his age.
^abcdefgRees, John K. (August 25, 1892)."Lewis Morris Rutherfurd".todayinsci.com. Columbia College Observatory. RetrievedJuly 21, 2017.
^Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Maynard, Arthur S.; Mann, Conklin (1880).The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 160. RetrievedJuly 18, 2017.
^Stuyvesant Rutherfurd later changed his name to Rutherfurd Stuyvesant in conformity with the will of his mother's great-uncle, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant in order to inherit the Stuyvesant fortune.
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