William Frederick Denning
William Frederick Denning was a British amateur astronomer who achieved considerable success without formal scientific training. He is known for his catalogues of meteor radiants, observations of Jupiter's red spot, and for the discovery of five comets.Career
Denning devoted a great deal of time to searching for comets, and discovered five of them, including the periodic comet 72P/Denning–Fujikawa and the lost comet D/1894 F1. The latter was the last comet discovered on British soil until the discoveries of George Alcock.
Denning also studied meteors and novae, discovering Nova Cygni 1920. He won the Prix Valz of the French Academy of Sciences for 1895. He also directed the British Astronomical Association’s Comet and Meteor Sections. From 1869 Denning held the combined post of secretary and treasurer of the short-lived Observing Astronomical Society.
During his life, Denning published 1179 articles in prominent scientific journals including Nature, The Observatory, Astronomische Nachrichten, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Journal des Observateurs, and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.Awards and honors
