A PATHETIC STORY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVI, Issue 88, 30 March 1926, Page 3

A PATHETIC STORY.

SACRIFICES FOR SCIENCE. London, March 29. The “Daily Chronicle” publishes a pathetic story of the sacrifices of Mr. William Denning, made in the interest of science. Mr. Denning, who is now 78, lives alone in Bristol on a small civil list pension. He is only able to eat liquid food owing to the hardships of his earlier life, when lor many years he spent his nights in the garden observing stars, even when snow was on the ground. He often spent the following day in his study checking his observations The face of the heavens became so familiar to him that a glance with the naked eye was sufficient to tell whether there was any alteration in the larger stars, and so he was able to make the famous discovery of the new star in Cygnus. Mr. Denning s obseirvataions recently proved that the temperature 50 miles above the earth is tropical.— (A. and N.Z.) Mr. William Frederick Denning, F.R.A.S., is an accountant, amateur astronomer and writer on astronomical subjects He began the study of astronomy in 1860, discovered five comets, some new nebulae, and made a number of planetary observations. The study of the surface markings, rotation periods and phenomena of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn specially engaged his attention and formed the subject of many papers. His principal labour, however, was in the meteoric department, in which Held he accumulated a great number of observations ami discovered some features of meteoric systems never previously recognised. He was one of tho first to discover the new star which appeared on June Bth., 1918, and was the absolute discoverer of the new star in Cygnus, on August 20th., 1920. He was granted a civil list pension of ,€l5O in 1901.