Warren De la Rue (18 January 1815 - 19 April 1889) was a British astronomer and chemist, most famous for his pioneering work in astronomical photography. January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics. ... A chemist is a scientist who specializes in chemistry. ... Lens and mounting of a large format camera Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. ...

Son of Thomas De la Rue, the founder of the large firm of stationers of that name in London, Warren was born in Guernsey. Having completed his education 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. Attracted to astronomy by the influence of James Nasmyth, he constructed in 1850 a 13-inch reflecting telescope, mounted first at Canonbury, later at Cranford, Middlesex, and with its aid executed many drawings of the celestial bodies of singular beauty and fidelity. St Stevens Tower - The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London (see also alternative names) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... James Nasmyth James Hall Nasmyth (August 19, 1808 – May 7, 1890) was an engineer and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. ... Ritchey 24 reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (reflector) is an optical telescope which uses mirrors, rather than lenses, to reflect light. ... Canonbury is a place in the London Borough of Islington. ...

His chief title to fame, however, is his pioneering work in the application of the art of photography to astronomical research. In 1851 his attention was drawn to a daguerreotype of the Moon by G. P. Bond, shown at the great exhibition of that year. Excited to emulation and employing the more rapid wet-collodion process, he succeeded before long in obtaining exquisitely defined lunar pictures, which remained unsurpassed until the appearance of the Rutherfurd photographs in 1865. An early daguerreotype, claimed by some to be Abraham Lincoln, although many experts disagree with this claim. ... The term Luna refers to: Earths Moon Luna (goddess) The Luna program of unmanned space missions. ... George Phillips Bond (May 20, 1825 – February 17, 1865) was an American astronomer. ...

In 1854 he turned his attention to solar physics, and for the purpose of obtaining a daily photographic representation of the state of the solar surface he devised the photoheliograph, described in his report to the British Association, On Celestial Photography in England (1859), and in his Bakerian Lecture (Phil. Trans. vol. clii. pp. 333-416). Regular work with this instrument, inaugurated at Kew by De la Rue in 1858, was carried on there for fourteen years; and was continued at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from 1873 to 1882. The results obtained in. the years 1862–1866 were discussed in two memoirs, entitled Researches on Solar Physics, published by De la Rue, in conjunction with Professor Balfour Stewart and Mr B Loewy, in the Phil. Trans. (vol. clix. pp. 1-110, and vol. clx. pp. 389-496). 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A sun is the star at the center of a solar system. ... The British Association or the British Association for the Advancement of Science or the BA is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating intercourse between scientific workers. ... 1859 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest London. ... 1858 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Royal Observatory, Greenwich The original site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), which was built as a workplace for the Astronomer Royal, was on a hill in Greenwich Park in Greenwich, London, overlooking the River Thames. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1866 is a common year starting on Monday. ... Balfour Stewart (November 1, 1828 - December 19, 1887), Scottish physicist, was born in Edinburgh, and was educated at the university of that city. ...

In 1860 De la Rue took the photoheliograph to Spain for the purpose of photographing the total solar eclipse which occurred on the 18th of July of that year. 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-in. refractor to enable it to take part in the International Photographic Survey of the Heavens. 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... Photo taken by John Walker during the Zambia 2001 eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth are on a single line with the Moon in the middle. ... The 50 cm refractor at Nice Observatory. ...

With Dr Hugo Muller 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 the Chemical Society, and also of the Royal Astronomical Society (1864-1866). In 1862 he received the gold medal of the latter society, and in 1864 a Royal medal from the Royal Society, for his observations on the total eclipse of the sun in 1860, and for his improvements in astronomical photography. He died in London in 1889. Formed in 1841, as the Chemical Society of London, it was the result of increased interest in scientific matters. ... The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research (mainly carried on at the time by gentleman astronomers rather than professionals). ... The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is claimed to be the oldest learned society still in existence. ...

See Monthly Notices Roy. A sir. Soc. 1. 155; Journ. Chem. Soc. lvii. 441; Nature, xl. 26; The Times (April 22, 1889); Royal Society, Catalogue of Scientific Papers. The masthead of The Times The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

Honors

• Awarded gold medal by the Royal Astronomical Society in 1862.
• Awarded the Royal medal from the Royal Society in 1864.
• De La Rue crater on the Moon is named for him.