13 - Foes and allies

Summary

No doubt Dr. Huggins can give you some pointers. You know he is the founder of the science of astronomical spectroscopy.

– James Keeler

By 1890, William Huggins had acquired considerable renown and prestige. He also faced serious threats from all sides: refutations and criticisms from Lockyer, reports that old problems were being conquered with improved instrumentation at other observatories, and lack of recognition from men too young to remember his pioneering role in the development of observational techniques they took for granted.

How did he manage to keep himself on the forefront of discovery and hold his detractors at bay? One way he did this, as we shall see in this chapter, was by cultivating and nurturing personal alliances with prominent American astronomers. He had discerned early on that the locus of cutting-edge astronomical research was shifting from the Old World to the New. Visionary plans were being drawn up and executed on the other side of the Atlantic thanks to eccentric tycoons like James Lick and Charles Yerkes (1837–1905) with egos and fortunes large enough to cover the cost of erecting monumental observatories equipped to face the challenges of the new astronomy. It is emblematic of the eclectic and dynamic nature of Huggins's investigative interests and methods that he embraced the work of these new American observatories and made use of their resources to further his own research goals.