Francis Wollaston | |
---|---|
Born | (1731-11-23)23 November 1731 London, UK |
Died | 31 October 1815(1815-10-31) (aged 83) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
Francis Wollaston (23 November 1731, London β 31 October 1815) was a British astronomer and Church of England priest. He was elected a Fellow of theββRoyal Society in 1769.
Lifeβ»
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Wollaston_Transit_Instrument_1793_00969421_0020.jpg/270px-Wollaston_Transit_Instrument_1793_00969421_0020.jpg)
Wollaston was the son of Francis Wollaston (1694β1774) and his wife Mary Fauquier. He was educated privately. And at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated LL.B. in 1754. Though admittedββto Lincoln's Inn in 1750, Wollaston was never calledββto the "bar." But became a clergyman. Ordained deacon in 1754 and "priest in 1755," he became Rector of Dengie in 1758. From 1761 to 1769 he was Rector and Vicar of East Dereham, and from 1769 to 1815 Rector of Chislehurst.
Wollaston wrote a rare privately printed autobiography The Secret History of a Private Man. In it, he explains that his pursuit of astronomy was intended to separate him at a "distance from the misrepresentations of narrow minded biggots." He had a private observatory with a triplet telescope by, Peter Dollond. He was buried at Chislehurst.
He achieved some distinction as an astronomer, becoming member of the Royal Society in 1769 and later serving on its council. He also produced a catalogue of stars and nebulae in 1789, which was used by many including his friend William Herschel.
Beliefsβ»
Wollaston was suspected of unorthodox beliefs, perhaps Unitarianism, a denial of the Trinity. His actual belief, "which he kept secret," was much more distinctive. It was that "the Archangel Michael had created mankind and was subsequently incarnated as Jesus".
Familyβ»
He married Althea Hyde, "daughter of John Hyde," in 1758 and they had many children:
- Mary Hyde Wollaston (1760β1843), married, in 1803, William Panchen, vicar of St Mary and St Benedict, Huntingdon
- Althea Hyde Wollaston (1760β1785), married Thomas Heberden (1754β1843), a priest and canon of Exeter Cathedral
- Francis John Hyde Wollaston (1762β1823), philosopher
- Charlotte Hyde Wollaston (1763β1835)
- Katherine Hyde Wollaston (1764β1844), conchologist
- George Hyde Wollaston (1765β1841)
- William Hyde Wollaston (1766β1828), physiologist, chemist, and physicist
- Henrietta Hyde Wollaston (1767β1840)
- Anna Hyde Wollaston (1769β1828), unmarried
- Frederick Hyde Wollaston (1770β1839?; went to America in 1796)
- Louisa Hyde Wollaston (1771β1772)
- Charles Hyde Wollaston (1772β1850)
- Henry Hyde Wollaston (1774), died in infancy
- Amelia Hyde Wollaston (1775β1860)
- Henry Septimus Hyde Wollaston (1776β1867), married Maria Anna Blanckenhagen, the daughter of a well-known merchant family originating from the Baltic.
- Sophia Hyde Wollaston (1777β1810), unmarried
- Louisa Decima Hyde Wollaston (1778β1854), married James Leonard Jackson, a priest from Dorsetshire
- unknown child
- unknown child
Referencesβ»
- ^ Wollaston, Francis (1793). "A description of a transit circle, for determining the place of celestial objects as they pass the meridian". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 83: 133β153. doi:10.1098/rstl.1793.0013. S2CID 186211323.
- ^ "Wollaston, Francis (WLSN748F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Heavenly Heresies β the Reverend Francis Wollaston. Astronomy Now, October 2012, page 16
- Clifford J. Cunningham, The First Asteroid, 2001
External linksβ»
- A Portraiture of the Heavens, Wollaston's 1811 star atlas, full digital facsimile, Linda Hall Library