Sir William Huggins, OM , FRS (February 7 1824 – May 12 1910) was a British astronomer. He was the husband of Margaret Lindsay Huggins.

He built a private observatory and carried out extensive observations of the spectral emission lines and absorption lines of various celestial objects. He was the first to distinguish between nebulas and galaxies by showing that some (like the Orion Nebula) had pure emission spectra characteristic of gas, while others like the Andromeda Galaxy had spectra characteristic of stars.

Honours

• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1867 with William Allen Miller, 1885)
• Copley Medal (1898)
• Henry Draper Medal (1901)
• Bruce Medal (1904)

• Huggins crater on the Moon
• Crater on Mars
• Asteroid 2635 Huggins

Publications

• Spectrum analysis in its application to the heavenly bodies. Manchester, 1870 (Science lectures for the people; series 2, no. 3)
• (with Lady Huggins): An atlas of representative stellar spectra from 4870 to [lambda 3300, together with a discussion of the evolution order of the stars, and the interpretation of their spectra; preceded by a short history of the observatory. London, 1899 (Publications of Sir William Huggins's Observatory; v. 1)
• The Royal Society, or, Science in the state and in the schools. London, 1906.
• The scientific papers of Sir William Huggins; edited by Sir William and Lady Huggins. London, 1909 (Publications of Sir William Huggins's Observatory; v. 2)

British astronomers | Fellows of the Royal Society | Presidents of the Royal Society | Members of the Order of Merit | 1824 births | 1910 deaths

William Huggins | William Huggins | William Huggins | William Huggins | ウィリアム・ハギンズ | Хаггинс, Уильям | William Huggins | William Huggins