Warren De la Rue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1815-01-18)18 January 1815 |
| Died | 19 April 1889(1889-04-19) (aged 74) Marylebone,London, England |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Father | Thomas de la Rue |
Warren De la RueFRS FRAS (18 January 1815 – 19 April 1889) was a Britishastronomer,chemist, andinventor, most famous for his pioneering work in astronomical photography.[1][2][3][4]
He was born inGuernsey on theChannel Islands,[5] the son of the founder of the large firm of stationers of that name in London,Thomas de la Rue and Jane (née Warren).[6]Having completed his education at theCollège Sainte-Barbe in Paris, he entered his father's business, but devoted his leisure hours to chemical and electrical researches, and between 1836 and 1848 published several papers on these subjects.[7]
In 1840, he enclosed a platinum coil in a vacuum tube and passed an electric current through it,[8] thus creating one of the world's firstelectric light bulbs.[9][10] The design was based on the concept that the high melting point of platinum would allow it to operate at high temperatures and that the evacuated chamber would contain fewer gas molecules to react with the platinum, improving its longevity. Although it was an efficient design, the cost of the platinum made it impractical for commercial use.[11]
Attracted to astronomy by the influence ofJames Nasmyth, he constructed in 1850 a 13-inchreflecting telescope, mounted first atCanonbury, later atCranford, Middlesex, and with its aid executed many drawings of the celestial bodies of singular beauty and fidelity.[7]
His chief title to fame is his pioneering work in the application of the art of photography to astronomical research.[12] In 1851 his attention was drawn to adaguerreotype of the moon byG. P. Bond, shown at the great exhibition of that year. Excited to emulate and employ the more rapidwet-collodion process, he succeeded before long in obtaining exquisitely defined lunar pictures, which remained unsurpassed until the appearance of theLewis Morris Rutherfurd photographs in 1865.[7] His contribution is marked by the naming of theDe La Rue lunar crater.
In 1854 he turned his attention tosolar physics, and for the purpose of obtaining a daily photographic representation of the state of the solar surface he devised thephotoheliograph, described in his report to theBritish Association,On Celestial Photography in England (1859), and in hisBakerian Lecture (Phil. Trans. vol. clii. pp. 333–416). Regular work with this instrument, inaugurated atKew by De la Rue in 1858, was carried on there for fourteen years; and was continued at theRoyal Observatory, Greenwich, from 1873 to 1882. The results obtained in the years 1862–1866 were discussed in two memoirs, entitledResearches on Solar Physics, published by De la Rue, in conjunction withProfessor Balfour Stewart andMr B Loewy, in thePhil. Trans. (vol. clix. pp. 1–110, and vol. clx. pp. 389–496).[7]
In 1860 De la Rue took the photoheliograph toRivabellosa, Spain, for the purpose of photographing the totalsolar eclipse which occurred on 18 July of that year.[13] He established his temporary observatory in the neighboringQuintanilla de la Ribera.[14] This expedition formed the subject of the Bakerian Lecture already referred to. The photographs obtained on that occasion proved beyond doubt the solar character of the prominences or red flames, seen around the limb of the moon during a solar eclipse. In 1873 De la Rue gave up active work in astronomy, and presented most of his astronomical instruments to the university observatory, Oxford. Subsequently, in the year 1887, he provided the same observatory with a 13-inchrefractor to enable it to take part in theInternational Photographic Survey of the Heavens.[7]
With DrHugo Müller as his collaborator he published several papers of a chemical character between the years 1856 and 1862, and investigated, 1868–1883, the discharge of electricity through gases by means of a battery of 14,600 chloride of silver cells. He was twice president of theChemical Society, and also of theRoyal Astronomical Society (1864–1866) and in 1862 received the gold medal of the latter society. In June 1850 he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society[15] and in addition to their Bakerian Lecture in 1862 was awarded in 1864 theirRoyal Medal "for his observations on the 1860 total eclipse of the sun and his improvements in astronomical photography."[7]
He died inMarylebone in 1889.[16] He had married Georgiana, the third daughter of Thomas Bowles of Guernsey; they had four sons and one daughter.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "De la Rue, Warren".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 945. Footnotes: Works by or aboutWarren De la Rue atWikisource
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