William Rutter Dawes (19 March 1799 – 15 February 1868) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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 o ...

Biography

Dawes was born at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 155 ...

then in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

(it moved to

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an a ...

in 1902), the son of

William Dawes William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset ...

, also an astronomer, and Judith Rutter. He qualified as a doctor in 1825. On 29 October 1828 he was ordained pastor at an Independent chapel in Burscough Street,

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administ ...

, Lancashire,Nightingale, Benjamin, ''Lancashire nonconformity, or, Sketches, historical & descriptive, of the Congregational and old Presbyterian churches in the county''. John Heywood, 1890-1893,
200-2
/ref> formerly part of a silk factory. A new chapel, in Chapel Street, was opened in 1834. Dawes resigned as pastor in December 1837 due to ill health. When, in 1843, the chapel got into financial difficulties due to the debt owing after its construction, Dawes came to their aid.

Astronomy

Dawes made extensive measurements of

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

s as well as observations of

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a ...

s. He was a friend of

William Lassell William Lassell (18 June 1799 – 5 October 1880) was an English merchant and astronomer.Haddenham, Buckinghamshire Haddenham is a village and civil parish in west Buckinghamshire, England. It is about south-west of Aylesbury and north-east of Thame in neighbouring Oxfordshire. At the 2011 Census, the population of the civil parish was 4,502. History Th ...

. One of his telescopes, an eight-inch (200mm) aperture refractor by

Cooke Cooke is a surname derived from the occupation of Cooking, cook. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Cooke (died 1614), English actor * Alfred Tyrone Cooke, of the Indo-Pakistani wars * Alistair Cooke KBE (1908–2004), British-Am ...

, survives at the

Cambridge Observatory Cambridge Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the University of Cambridge in the East of England. It was established in 1823 and is now part of the site of the Institute of Astronomy. The old Observatory building houses the Institute o ...

, now part of the Institute of Astronomy where it is known as the Thorrowgood Telescope. Proctor Richard Anthony Other Worlds Mars Chart 1896

He made extensive drawings of

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 atmos ...

during its 1864

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

. In 1867,

Richard Anthony Proctor Richard Anthony Proctor (23 March 1837 – 12 September 1888) was an English astronomer. He is best remembered for having produced one of the earliest maps of Mars in 1867 from 27 drawings by the English observer William Rutter Dawes. His map w ...

made a map of Mars based on these drawings. Proctor named two features after Dawes. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1830 and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

in 1865, for his astronomical work.Dawes, William Rutter: certificate of election to the Royal Society
/ref> Proposers for his Royal Society Fellowship included G B Airy and J F W Herschel.

Awards

He won the

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awa ...

in 1855.

Legacy

Dawes Dawes may refer to: Places *Dawes (Parish), New South Wales, Australia *Dawes Point, New South Wales, Australia *Dawes Arboretum, in Newark, Ohio, U.S. *Dawes County, Nebraska, U.S. *Dawes Township, Thurston County, Nebraska, U.S. Other uses *Dawe ...

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

s on 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 ...

and

crater on Mars are named after him, as is a gap within

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...

's C Ring, formerly labelled 1.495 R_S. An

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

phenomenon, the

Dawes limit Dawes' limit is a formula to express the maximum resolving power of a microscope or telescope. It is so named after its discoverer, W. R. Dawes ,Dawes, W.R., ''Catalogue of Micrometrical Measurements of Double Stars.'' In: Memoirs of the Royal ...

, is named after him.

Family

Dawes married twice. His first wife was Mary Scott née Egerton (1764-1840). They married on 13 January 1824 at Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. She was the widow of his tutor,

Thomas Scott Thomas Scott may refer to: Australia * Thomas Hobbes Scott (1783–1860), Anglican clergyman and first Archdeacon of New South Wales * Thomas Scott (Australian politician) (1865–1946), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Thomas Sco ...

. On 28 July 1842 Dawes married Ann Welsby née Coupland (1805-1860).Marriott, R A
Dawes, William Rutter (1799–1868)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (via libraries) She was the widow of Ormskirk solicitor John Welsby (1800-1839) whom she had married on 16 January 1824.England Marriages 1538-1973, findmypast (subscription required)

Selected writings

References

External links

*

- Awarding of RAS gold medal

- Obituary

- Brief biography * McKim, R., Marriott, R. A.,
Dawes' Observations Of Mars, 1864-65
, ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'', vol.98, no.6, p.294-300, October 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, William Rutter 1799 births 1868 deaths 19th-century British astronomers Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the Royal Society