Alexander Stewart Herschel

Born: Feldhausen, near Cape Town, South Africa, 5 February 1836. Died: Observatory House, Slough, 18 June 1907. [Royal Society Fellow record]

Son of Sir John (1792-1871) and Lady Margaret (née Stewart, 1810-1884) Herschel. He was also grandson of William Herschel (1738-1822). [Wikipedia] 1851-1855, schooled at Clapham Grammar School, . [Wikipedia] 1855-1859, Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. (as twentieth wrangler). [Royal Society election certificate] 1861-1865, studying at the Royal School of Mines. 1866-1871, Lecturer on natural philosophy, and professor of mechanical and experimental physics in the Andersonian University of Glasgow. [Royal Society election certificate] 1871-1886, First professor of physics and experimental philosophy in the University of Durham College of Science, Newcastle upon Tyne. [Royal Society election certificate] He gained an M.A. in 1877 from both Cambridge and Durham.

He specialised in meteor observation and wrote annual reports of meteor activity for the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS, of which he was a life member) from 1862 to 1881. He was also a photographer and was president of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne & Northern Counties Photographic Association 1885-1887. In 1888 Herschel moved south and with his brothers and sisters moved to Observatory House, Slough where William had once lived. In 1905 he journeyed to Spain to observe the solar eclipse of August 30. He died in Slough in 1907 and is buried near his grandfather at the church of St. Laurence, Upton-cum-Chalvey. [Wikipedia]

Elected Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on 8 March 1867 [MNRAS vol. 27, p. 173] Elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 12 June 1884, from personal knowledge: George Biddell Airy; Warren De La Rue; James Glaisher; R. Grant; John Russell Hind; Joseph Norman Lockyer; John Lubbock; Charles Pritchard; T. R. Robison; William Thomson; John Tyndall; Frederick Guthrie; R. B. Clifton; G. Carey Foster; R. S. Newall; Hy. B. Tristram [Royal Society election certificate] Also a member of the Physical Society of London (now the Institute of Physics). [Wikipedia]

Obituaries Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A, 1907-1908, vol. 80, p. 19-23. MNRAS, vol. 68, p. 231-3. The Observatory, vol. 30, p. 278-282. , vol. 76, p. 202-3. JBAA, vol. 17, p. 402-3.

Bibliography [a verified download of ADS] MNRAS State of Meteoric Science, vol. 24, p. 133. Shooting Stars in March, vol. 24, p. 189. Radiant Points of Shooting-Stars, vol. 25, p. 33, & 162. Progress of Meteoric Astronomy during the year 1863-4, vol. 25, p. 158. Height of a Luminous Meteor, vol. 25, p. 251. Radiant Points of Shooting-Stars, vol. 26, p. 51. Path of a Detonating Meteor, vol. 26, p. 211. Radiant Point of the November Meteors, 1866, vol. 27, p. 17. November Star-Shower in 1869, vol. 30, p. 6. Contrivance for automatic measurement of transit times, vol. 31, p. 241. Transit micrometer, self-recording, vol. 32, p. 18. Meteor-showers supposed to be connected with Biela's Comet, vol. 32, p. 355. Meteor-shower of November 27, 1872, vol. 33, p. 73. Positions of the radiant point of the meteor-shower of November 27, 1872, vol. 33, p. 501. List of known accordances between cometary and observed meteor showers, vol. 38, p. 369. Notes of some errata in the report of the progress of meteoric astronomy in 1877, vol. 38, p. 410. Report on the progress of meteoric astronomy in the year 1879-80, vol. 40, p. 255. Fall of a meteorite on March 14, 1881, vol. 41, p. 444. Suggestion remarks on the above paper, together with another suggested explanation of stationary radiant points of meteors, vol. 59, p. 179.

Nature Pinkish Colour of the , vol. 2, p. 123. The Aurora Borealis, vol. 3, p. 5, & 486. The Marseilles Meteorite, vol. 4, p. 503. Solar Halo, vol. 5, p. 81. The Cometary Star-Shower, vol. 7, p. 77. Auroral Display, vol. 7, p. 481. Spectra of Shooting Stars, vol. 9, p. 142. The Progress of Meteor-spectroscopy, vol. 24, p. 507. Bright Meteors, vol. 50, p. 572. Aurora of November 23, 1894, vol. 51, p. 246. Heights of August Meteors, vol. 52, p. 437. A Fine Shooting-Star; and Heights of Meteors in August and November 1895, vol. 54, p. 221. Leonids of November 15, a.m., 1896, vol. 55, p. 173. Outlying Clusters of the Perseids, vol. 56, p. 540. Contemporary Meteor-Showers of the Leonid and Bielid Meteor-Periods, vol. 61, p. 222, & 271. Some Notes on the Late Prof Piazzi Smyth's Work in Spectroscopy, vol. 62, p. 161. Heights of Sunset After-glows in June, 1902, vol. 66, p. 294. The Leonid and Bielid Meteor-Showers of November, 1902, vol. 67, p. 103. The Lyrid Meteors, vol. 67, p. 585.

The Observatory Fireballs of Sept. 23-24, 1876 and 1879, vol. 3, p. 343. On a relation between the spectrum of hydrogen and acoustics, vol. 19, p. 232. Another slow-pathed August meteor, vol. 24, p. 383. The slow-pathed Aquarid shooting-star of August 10th, 1901, vol. 24, p. 461. The Bielid meteors in 1905, vol. 29, p. 93, & 126. Accounts of the great fireball of 1868, October 7, showing it to have undergone a strong deflection of its real path, vol. 30, p. 165. On the observation of meteors, vol. 34, p. 291.

Memoirs of the British Astronomical Association: Section for the Observation of Meteors. Real Paths of Fireballs and Shooting Stars observed at Two or more Stations in 1899, vol. 10, p. 23. Real Paths of Fireballs and Shooting Stars observed at Two or more Stations in 1901, vol. 11, p. 21. Notes on the Real Path Determinations, vol. 11, p. 24. Real Paths of Fireballs and Shooting-stars observed at Two or more Stations in 1901-1902, vol. 12, p. 17. Notes on the Real Path Determinations of November, 1901, and May-July, 1902, vol. 12, p. 19. Real Paths of Fireballs and Shooting-stars observed at Two or more Stations in 1903, vol. 13, p. 18.

Annals of the Observatory of Lucien Libert Les Perseides en 1904, vol. 17, p. 26 [The Perseids in 1904].

Bulletin de la Societe Astronomique de France et Revue Mensuelle d'Astronomie, de Meteorologie et de Physique du Globe Les Groupes D'etoiles Filantes du 1er au 10 Mai, en 1894 et 1899. vol. 15, p. 81 [Groups [Radiants?] of shooting stars from May 1st to 10th, in 1894 and 1899].

The Astronomical Register Meteors, vol. 2, p. 39, 79, 101, & 127. vol. 3, p. 162, & 266. vol. 15, p. 16. November, vol. 2, p. 290, vol. 4, p. 17 & 96, vol. 5, p. 129, vol. 7, p. 234, vol. 8, p, 8, vol. 11, p. 7. Periodic, vol. 2, p. 163. The Sun's Diameter (with Howlett, F.), vol. 3, p. 13. Dates preferred by Fireballs, vol. 3, p. 10. Fireballs, vol. 3, p. 114, vol. 4, p. 80. The Southern Comet-Large Meteor, vol. 3, p. 162. Lunar Phenomena, vol. 4, p. 186. On the , vol. 6, p. 70, & 87.

See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stewart_Herschel https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp= Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28 %28text%29%3D%27Herschel,%20alexander%27%29