Edward Walter Maunder (12 April 1851 – 21 March 1928) was an English
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
. His study of
sunspot
Sunspots are solar phenomena, phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as temporary spots that are darker than the surrounding areas. They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic flux that inhibi ...
s and the solar magnetic cycle led to his identification of the period from 1645 to 1715 that is now known as the
Maunder Minimum.
Early and personal life
Maunder was born in 1851, in London, the youngest child of a minister of the
Wesleyan Society. He attended
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King ...
but never graduated. He took a job in a London bank to finance his studies.
In 1873 Maunder returned to the
Royal Observatory, taking a position as a
spectroscopic assistant. Shortly after, in 1875, he married Edith Hannah Bustin, who gave birth to six children: four sons (one of whom died in infancy) and two daughters. Following the death of Edith in 1888, in 1890 he met Annie Scott Dill Russell (later
Annie Russell Maunder
Annie Scott Dill Maunder (née Russell) (14 April 1868 – 15 September 1947) was an Irish-British astronomer, who recorded the first evidence of the movement of sunspot emergence from the poles toward the equator over the sun's 11-year cycle. ...
, 1868–1947), a mathematician and astronomer educated at
Girton College in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...
, with whom he collaborated for the remainder of his life. She worked as a "
lady computer" at the Observatory from 1890 to 1895.
In 1895 Maunder and Russell married. In 1916 Annie Maunder became one of the first women accepted by the Royal Astronomical Society.
Solar observations
Part of Maunder's job at
the Observatory involved photographing and measuring sunspots, and in doing so he observed that the
solar latitudes at which sunspots occur varies in a regular way over the course of the 11-year cycle. After 1891, he was assisted in his work by his wife Annie Maunder. In 1904, he published their results in the form of the "butterfly" diagram.
After studying the work of
Gustav Spörer
Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Spörer (23 October 1822 – 7 July 1895) was a German astronomer.
He is noted for his studies of sunspots and sunspot cycles. In this regard he is often mentioned together with Edward Maunder. Spörer was the first t ...
, who examined old records from the different observatories archives looking for changes of the heliographic latitude of sunspots, Maunder presented a paper on Spörer's conclusions to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1890 and analyzed the results to show the presence of a prolonged sunspot minimum in the 17-18th century in a paper published in 1894. The period, recognised initially by Spörer, now bears the name
Maunder minimum.
He travelled extensively for observations going to places such as the West Indies, Lapland, India, Algiers, Mauritius. His last eclipse expedition was to Labrador for the
Solar eclipse of 30 August 1905 at the invitation of the Canadian government.
Other astronomical observations
In 1882 Maunder (and some other European astronomers) observed what he called an ''"auroral beam"''; as yet unexplained, it had some similarity in appearance to either a
noctilucent cloud or an
upper tangent arc
Tangent arcs are a type of halo, an atmospheric optical phenomenon, which appears above and below the observed Sun or Moon, tangent to the 22° halo. To produce these arcs, rod-shaped hexagonal ice crystals need to have their long axis aligned h ...
.
However, Maunder wrote that the phenomenon moved rapidly from horizon to horizon, which would rule out a noctilucent cloud or upper tangent arc. Further, upper tangent arc cannot occur during nighttime when the observation was made. Since he made his observation during highly intense auroral activity, he assumed it was some extraordinary auroral phenomenon, though one he had never observed again before or after.
He observed
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atm ...
and was a sceptic of the notion of
Martian canals
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was erroneously believed that there were "canals" on the planet Mars. These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° north to 60° south latitude on Mars, observed ...
. He conducted visual experiments using marked circular disks which led him to conclude, correctly, that the viewing of canals arose as an
optical illusion. Also he was convinced that there cannot be life "as in our world" on Mars, as there are no temperature-equating winds and too low mean temperatures.
Craters on
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atm ...
and
the Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
were named in his and his wife
Annie's honour.
Establishment of the British Astronomical Association
In 1890, Maunder was a driving force in the foundation of the ''
British Astronomical Association
The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers.
Throughout its history, the BAA has encouraged observers to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaborati ...
''. Although he had been fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society
(Whatever shines should be observed)
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since 1875, Maunder wanted an association of astronomers open to every person interested in astronomy, from every class of society, and especially open for women.
Maunder was the first editor of the Journal of the
BAA, an office later taken by his wife
Annie Maunder. He was also director of its Mars Section 1892–1893, the Star Colour Section 1900–1901, President 1894-1896 and finally Solar Section director 1910–1925. His older brother, Thomas Frid Maunder (1841–1935), was a co-founder and secretary of
the Association
The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and " Along Comes Mary") an ...
for 38 years.
Publications
*
* Maunder, E. Walter (1900)
''The Royal Observatory, Greenwich''��Original publication: London: The Religious Tract Society
*
*
*
*
*
*
Commemoration
In 2022
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
announced that Annie and Walter Maunder would be commemorated with a
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
at their former home in
Brockley
Brockley is a district and an electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross.
History
The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood where badgers are seen (''br ...
, London, later that year. The Maunders wrote ''The Heavens and their Story'' while they were living in Brockley.
References
Further reading
* by Hector Macpherson, London: Gall & Inglis, 1905
* A. J. Kinder "Edward Walter Maunder: His Life and Times" ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'' Vol. 118 (1) 21–42 (2008).
External links
Online catalogue of Maunder's personal and working papers (part of the Royal Greenwich Observatory Archive held at Cambridge University Library)*
*
*
*
J. E. Evans and E. W. Maunder, "Experiments as to the Actuality of the 'Canals' observed on Mars"
MNRAS, 63 (1903) 488
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maunder, Walter
1851 births
1928 deaths
Scientists from London
19th-century British astronomers
Alumni of King's College London
20th-century British astronomers