Challenging traditional accounts of the origins of astrophysics, this book presents the first scholarly biography of nineteenth-century English amateur astronomer William Huggins (1824–1910). A pioneer in adapting the spectroscope to new astronomical purposes, William Huggins rose to scientific prominence in London and transformed professional astronomy to become a principal founder of the new science of astrophysics. The author re-examines his life and career, exploring unpublished notebooks, correspondence and research projects to expose the boldness of this scientific entrepreneur. While Sir William Huggins is the main focus of the book, the involvement of Lady Margaret Lindsay Huggins (1848–1915) in her husband's research is examined, where it may have been previously overlooked or obscured. Written in an engaging style, this book has broad appeal and will be valuable to scientists, students and anyone interested in the history of astronomy.

Winner, 2015 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize, Historical Astronomy Division, American Astronomical Society

'Unravelling Starlight is a science history book that delves deeply into the intricacies of unfolding theories and methods, interpersonal and institutional rivalries, day-by-day chronologies, and the human character. Becker is the historical scholar as detective, and presents this epic tale of scientific advancement less to entertain than to educate.'

Alan Hirshfeld Source: IHPST Newsletter

'An intellectual companion of William and Margaret Huggins for the past twenty years, Barbara J. Becker certainly has the required credentials to reassess the value of the astronomer’s narrative. By focusing narrowly on Huggins’s exceptional career as well as his wife's, Becker has produced a book that strikes me as being both extremely ambitious and perhaps excessively modest.'

David Aubin Source: Journal for the History of Astronomy

'Becker makes excellent use of archives around the world; indeed, it is the use of this unpublished material that makes her study so valuable it is something much more, a nuanced biography that illuminates broader themes in science. For this reason, it will be of interest not only to historians of astronomy and astrophysics, but also to historians and philosophers of science in general.'

Steven J. Dick Source: Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage

'Becker has studied William and Margaret Huggins for decades, and the culmination of her detailed archival work is Unravelling Starlight, an invaluable analysis of the roles of these pioneers in astrophysics … Becker’s double biography … reveals new insights regarding the under-appreciated role of Margaret Huggins.'

Jay M. Pasachoff Source: HAD News: The Newsletter of the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society

'Unravelling Starlight is a science history book that delves deeply into the intricacies of unfolding theories and methods, interpersonal and institutional rivalries, and - at base - the human character. Becker is the historical scholar as detective, and presents this epic tale of scientific achievement not only to entertain but to educate.'

Source: Science and Education

‘Book of the month; 5/5 stars: beautifully written and meticulously researched and referenced. In every way a splendid work; no scientific library, amateur or professional, should be without it.'

Patrick Moore Source: Sky at Night

‘The accepted narrative, written by William himself, is very readable, a considered and finely crafted account, as Becker points out; overall, it is far too good to be true … [This] book represents a considerable achievement in academic detective work, which took the author some twenty years to complete … a powerful argument against taking great scientists at their own estimation - history, properly unravelled as it is here, will be the judge.’

Source: Astronomy and Geophysics

'I loved this book. I recommend it unequivocally. Read it - you will learn a lot.'

Source: The Observatory

'Provides a remarkably fresh picture of the juncture between astronomy and physics in the early years of the ‘new astronomy’ of astrophysics … offers a vision of the origins of astrophysics that is both vivid and deep.'

Peter Susalla Source: Annals of Science

'Becker's story of the Hugginses' lives in astrophysics is told in a close-up and intimate manner. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be an amateur astronomer in the nineteenth century ... then read this book. Likewise, if you ever wondered about the day-to-day roles of the many unremembered women who [invested] in the careers of their husbands, then you'll also find much of interest here.'

Jessica Ratcliff Source: Isis, Journal of the History of Science Society

'Six years after the publication of the original hardcopy version of Unravelling Starlight … Cambridge University Press has produced a paperback edition, thereby bringing this important volume within the price-range of all astronomers. And by ‘all astronomers’ I include amateurs, for William Huggins was surely one of the world’s foremost nineteenth century amateur astronomers. … One of the strengths of this book is the space assigned to Huggins’ involvement in astropolitics. Barbara Becker also skilfully presents the deteriorating relationships between Huggins and Norman Lockyer and Huggins and Dr Henry Draper, and the growing friendship between Huggins and George Ellery Hale. She also reveals the critical part played by Margaret Huggins (née Murray) in her husband’s research, and in continuing to actively promote his public persona after his death in 1910. … Barbara has an appealing style of writing, and consequently Unravelling Starlight … is an entertaining and easy read.'

Wayne Orchiston Source: Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage