Roberts, Isaac

Isaac Roberts, (born January 27, 1829, Groes, Clwyd [now in Conwy], Wales—died July 17, 1904, Crowborough, Sussex, England), British astronomer who was a pioneer in photography of nebulae.

In 1883 Roberts began experimenting with astronomical photography, taking pictures of stars, the Orion and Andromeda nebulae, and the Pleiades cluster. Although the photographs proved difficult to interpret, they were revealing. His three-hour exposure of the Pleiades showed the nebulosity surrounding these stars, and his photographs of Andromeda showed its spiral structure. Roberts’s photographs were exhibited regularly at the Royal Astronomical Society and earned him the Society’s Gold Medal in 1895.