The Chemistry of the Stars

Joseph Norman Lockyer
23 pages (2008/1915); 177KB download
WOWIO Books; ISBN: WOWIO-00395

DESCRIPTION

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer used electromagnetic spectroscopy to learn about the gas composition of bodies in outer space, discovering and naming the element Helium in the process.

In this lecture, presented at the University of Birmingham, Lockyer 1) reviews the work done up to that time regarding the “chemical conditioning of the atmospheres of stars” and 2) encourages support for theoretical science, noting “observations having no immediate practical bearing may yet help on the thought of mankind, and that this is a thing worth the doing. . . .”