The Drapers and the birth of astrophotography

Like most new branches of research, astronomical photography was pioneered by self-funded, independent ‘Grand Amateur’ scientists. And the Drapers of New York formed something of a dynasty in American science. In their day jobs, John William Draper and his son Henry were eminent academic physicians. But astronomy was their passion. English-born John W. obtained what was perhaps the first-ever photograph of the Moon around 1840. Technology advanced so rapidly that by 1884 Henry – in friendly rivalry with Andrew A. Common of Ealing, London – was obtaining spectacular photographs of nebulae and deep-space objects with giant camera telescopes of his own devising. Following Henry’s death in 1885, his scientifically minded widow, Anna, used their ample joint fortune to fund the now-standard Henry Draper Catalogue of spectral types which was produced at Harvard and named in his honour.

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About Allan Chapman

Allan Chapman is a historian of science at Oxford University with a special interest in the history of astronomy. He is the author of 11 books and over 120 journal articles, including Mary Somerville and the World of Science (Canopus, 2004) and England’s Leonardo: Robert Hooke and the seventeenth-century scientific revolution (Institute of Physics, 2005), both subjects of previous AstroFest talks. He has made several history of astronomy programmes for television. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Central Lancashire for his work in the history of astronomy and in 2010 an honorary DSc by the University of Salford. His book The Victorian Amateur Astronomer (1998) will soon be appearing in a revised edition.