Lewis Rutherfurd

Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816, 1892) was an American lawyer turned pioneering astrophotographer who made significant contributions to astronomical photography and spectroscopy in the nineteenth century. He constructed a private observatory in New York City where he produced some of the finest photographs of the moon, stars, and sun of his era. Rutherfurd also developed specialized telescopes optimized for photography and created early stellar classification systems based on spectroscopic observation.