William Henry Stanley Monck

Who was William Henry Stanley Monck?

William Henry Stanley Monck was an Irish astronomer and philosopher.

After becoming self-educated, he attended Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. In 1878 he became appointed as Professor of Moral Philosophy and remained in that position until 1892. On August 28, 1892, he became the first person to measure starlight electrically.

For many years he served as Chief Registrar for the Bankruptcy Division of the High Court of Ireland. He wrote several works about logic, metaphysics and astronomy, and was the author of a collection of articles in Popular Astronomy which were later published as a book, An Introduction to Stellar Astronomy, in 1899. On April 9, 1899 he was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society.

He was survived for a few months by his wife. The WHS Monck Observatory at Trinity College, Dublin is named after him.