Isaac Roberts
Astronomer and pioneer of astrophotography
Isaac Roberts FRS (1829–1904) was a Welsh engineer, businessman and pioneering amateur astronomer who helped establish the field of astrophotography, particularly of nebulae.
He was born on the 27th of January, 1829, at Groes Bach, in the parish of Henllan, near Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of William Roberts, a farmer, and his wife Catherine. He moved to Liverpool as a young man, apprenticing with a firm of mechanical engineers from 1844, and went on to become a highly successful builder before retiring from business in 1888 to devote himself to science.
From 1878 Roberts turned his attention to astronomy, and from 1883 he pioneered long-exposure astronomical photography. His three-hour exposure of the Pleiades revealed nebulosity surrounding the cluster, and his photographs of the Andromeda Nebula, taken in December 1888, were the first to show its spiral structure — a discovery that changed the course of astronomy and helped lay the groundwork for later theories of galaxies. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1895 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1890.
Roberts remained proud of his Welsh roots throughout his life, continuing to use the Welsh language, and left substantial bequests to Cardiff University, Bangor University and the University of Liverpool. He died suddenly on the 17th of July, 1904, in Crowborough, Sussex, England, and was later reburied at Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, Birkenhead.