Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney | |
|---|---|
 William de Wiveleslie Abney | |
| Born | 24 July 1843 |
| Died | 3 December 1920 (aged 77) Folkestone, England |
| Known for | Photography |
| Awards | Rumford Medal (1882) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy Chemistry Photography |
Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney KCB FRS FRSE (24 July 1843 – 3 December 1920) was an English astronomer, chemist, and photographer.
Abney was born in Derby, England, the son of Rev. Edward Henry Abney (1811–1892), vicar of St Alkmund's Church, Derby, and his wife, Catharine Strutt. His father was owner of the Firs Estate. William was educated at Rossall School, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and joined the Royal Engineers in 1861, with which he served in India for several years. Thereafter, and to further his knowledge in photography, he became a chemical assistant at the Chatham School of Military Engineering.
Abney was a pioneer of several technical aspects of photography. His father had been an early photographic experimenter and friend of Richard Keene, an early Derby photographer. Keene became a close friend of William and his brother Charles Edward Abney (1850–1914). Both Abney sons subsequently became founder members of the Derby Photographic Society in June 1884. [1] His endeavors in the chemistry of photography produced useful photographic products and also developments in astronomy. He wrote many books on photography that were considered standard texts at the time, although he was doubtful that his improvements would have a great impact on the subject.
Abney investigated the blackening of a negative to incidental light. In 1874, Abney developed a dry photographic emulsion, which replaced "wet" emulsions. He used this emulsion in an Egyptian expedition to photograph the transit of Venus across the sun. In 1880, he introduced hydroquinone. Abney also introduced new and useful types of photographic paper, including in 1882 a formula for gelatin silver chloride paper. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876.
Abney conducted early research into the field of spectroscopy, developing a red-sensitive emulsion which was used for the infrared spectra of organic molecules. He was also a pioneer in photographing the infrared solar spectrum (1887), as well as researching sunlight in the medium of the atmosphere.
In 1893 he inherited Meashan Hall from a rich aunt.
He became assistant secretary to the Board of Education in 1899 and advisor to that body in 1903. [2] In 1900 he was Director of the Science and Art Department. He sold his father's estate, most of which went for housing in the St Luke's Parish of Derby, but retained 11 acres until 1913 when they were purchased by the Council to become the site of Rykneld Secondary Modern School and Rykneld recreation ground. [3]
Abney invented the "Abney level", a combined clinometer and spirit level, used by surveyors to measure slopes and angles. He was responsible for the "Abney mounting" of a concave grating spectrograph in which the photographic plate was fixed and the entry slit moved to accommodate different regions of the spectrum.
He died on 3 December 1920 in Folkestone, England. He is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church in Folkestone.
He had married twice: firstly in 1864 to Agnes Matilda Smith (died 1888) with whom he had a son and two daughters, and secondly in 1890 to Mary Louisa Mead with whom he had a further daughter. [4]
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work.
Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen, he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the founder and first editor of the influential journal Nature.
Sir William Huggins was a British astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy together with his wife, Margaret.
The gelatin silver process is the most commonly used chemical process in black-and-white photography, and is the fundamental chemical process for modern analog color photography. As such, films and printing papers available for analog photography rarely rely on any other chemical process to record an image. A suspension of silver salts in gelatin is coated onto a support such as glass, flexible plastic or film, baryta paper, or resin-coated paper. These light-sensitive materials are stable under normal keeping conditions and are able to be exposed and processed even many years after their manufacture. The "dry plate" gelatin process was an improvement on the collodion wet-plate process dominant from the 1850s–1880s, which had to be exposed and developed immediately after coating.
In photography, reciprocity is the inverse relationship between the intensity and duration of light that determines the reaction of light-sensitive material. Within a normal exposure range for film stock, for example, the reciprocity law states that the film response will be determined by the total exposure, defined as intensity × time. Therefore, the same response can result from reducing duration and increasing light intensity, and vice versa.
The Bakerian Medal is one of the premier medals of the Royal Society that recognizes exceptional and outstanding science. It comes with a medal award and a prize lecture. The medalist is required to give a lecture on any topic related to physical sciences. It is awarded annually to individuals in the field of physical sciences, including computer science.
Hermann Wilhelm Vogel was a German photochemist and photographer who discovered dye sensitization, which is of great importance to photography.
The Physical Society of London, England, was a scientific society which was founded in 1874. In 1921, it was renamed the Physical Society, and in 1960 it merged with the Institute of Physics (IOP), the combined organisation eventually adopting the name of the latter society.
Leon Warnerke was a Polish civil engineer and inventor in the field of photography, independence activist, revolutionary and successful forger. Leon Warnerke was a pseudonym; his real name was Władysław Małachowski.
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the art and science of photography, and in 1853 received royal patronage from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Vero Charles Driffield was an English chemical engineer who also became involved in photographic research.
Josef Maria Eder was an Austrian chemist who specialized in the chemistry of photography, and who wrote a comprehensive early history of the technical development of chemical photography.
The Photographic Convention of United Kingdom (PCUK) was founded in 1886 and held its first convention in the city of Derby, England, in August of that year.
Richard Keene was an early Derbyshire photographer. He was a founding member of The Derby Photographic Society in 1884 and the Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom in 1886 as well as being an early member of The Linked Ring.
Major-General Edward Robert Festing, English army officer, chemist, and first Director of the Science Museum in London. He contributed to infrared spectroscopy research with Sir William Abney in the 1880s.
Rykneld Secondary Modern School was a secondary modern school for boys on St Albans Road Derby. It merged with Bemrose School in 1975, and admitted girls, becoming a comprehensive school. The single-storey brick building had a prominent clock tower, and was set in grounds that included tennis courts and football field at the rear. After-school activities included gardening and bee-keeping. The site and buildings, which had remained empty for some time and become vandalised, were sold for £1 in 1996 and the buildings demolished to make way for a new infants school. Attendees at the original Rykneld school had failed the 11-plus examination then in operation, and would leave without GCE or other qualifications, unless they passed the 13-plus examination entitling them to attend a Grammar School.
The Journal of the Photographic Society, later the Royal Photographic Society, was first published on 3 March 1853 and it has been published continuously ever since. The magazine's title was changed with volume 5 (1859) when it was renamed The Photographic Journal and this was recently updated to the RPS Journal. The publication is the oldest photographic periodical in the world. For much of the magazine's history it had an influence that went far beyond the society and a print run considerably in excess of the society's membership. The magazine has had its circulation ABC audited since 2010. From June 2014 Think Publishing took on responsibility for publishing the journal on the society's behalf. The Photographic Journal is not affiliated with ThePhotographicJournal.com, which is an online publication that began in 2013.
The New Year Honours 1900 were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India.
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