Public Lectures for the Session 2001-2002 held in Room E7 of the Renold Building, UMIST.
Delivered to the Manchester Astronomical Society

21st February 2002

''Astronomy, Telescopes and Beer Drinking: William Lassell 1799-1880''

Gerard Gilligan
Liverpool Astronomical Society

William Lassel (pron. Lassal) was born in Bolton. His father was a timber merchant, although his family, originating from Toxteth, Liverpool, was closely associated with clock and watch making, Coincidentally, another famous northwest astronomer, Jeremiah Horrox, the first to observe a transit of Venus in 1639 was buried at the same chapel in Toxteth in which were interred generations of Lassels’ forebears.

William Lassel became a brewer in Liverpool at a time when it is estimated that there were 600 breweries in the city in the 1830’s. The locals were heavy drinkers; Navies working on the construction of the Albert Docks are said to have consumed 10-12 pints of ale during each working day and then more every evening. Lassel became rich and although initially living close to the city centre, indulged in his hobby of telescopes and astronomy. After moving into a villa in the Liverpool suburbs he constructed his first 9-inch reflecting telescope mounted, perhaps for the first time, on an equatorial fork mounting in a small observatory. This was so successful that with the assistance of the Manchester engineer and telescope maker, James Nasmyth, he constructed a steam powered mirror grinding machine with which he made a 24-inch speculum that was again mounted in a similar fashion to the 9-inch. With this larger instrument Lassel discovered Triton, a moon of Neptune, less than two weeks after the planet itself was first observed at the end of September, 1846. Following this important discovery, Lassel became a magnet to scientists visiting the north west.

His next project was a 48-inch equatorially mounted reflector designed specifically for planetary observation, especially his favourite, Saturn. To benefit from a lower latitude and better weather, this was erected in Malta to where Lassel moved his family and retinue of servants in the early 1850s. Here he discovered the elusive crepe ring of Saturn. The telescope was a great success but after several years he moved it back to Liverpool after it was turned down by the new Melbourne Observatory in Australia. Following temporary financial difficulties in the 1860s it was sold as scrap metal.

On retirement, Lassel moved to Maidenhead where he again set up the 24-inch reflector and took on the office of president of the Royal Astronomical Society. After his death in 1880, the year before the founding of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, the telescope disappeared. A replica was constructed in Liverpool in 1996 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the discovery of Triton. It was funded by the Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Company and benefited from research carried out by Gerard Gilligan into the Lassel family. A book about the project is in preparation but has been delayed.

Synopsis by Kevin J. Kilburn (Secretary)

See the William Lassel Web Site

Maintained by Michael Oates
Page modified 28 October, 2006