Lewis Morris Rutherfurd

Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (November 25, 1816 – May 30, 1892) was an American lawyer and astronomer, and a pioneering astrophotographer.

Early life and work Rutherfurd was born in Morrisania, New York, to Robert Walter Rutherfurd (1788–1852) and Sabina Morris (1789–1857) of Morrisania. He was the grandson of John Rutherfurd, U.S. Senator from 1791 to 1798,

Career Moon, New York, 6 March 1865 – Lewis M. Rutherfurd (misspelled as Rutherford in this frontispiece of the 1873 book by Hermann Wilhelm Vogel) Soon after graduating from Williams, he began practicing law after being admitted to the bar in 1837 with William H. Seward, who eventually served as the United States Secretary of State, in Auburn, New York. In practicing, he associated with Peter A. Jay, the eldest son of the first United States Chief Justice, John Jay, until his death in 1843.

Rutherfurd served as a trustee of the Columbia University from 1858 until 1884, and donated his photographs to that institution. the 2x great-grandson of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland before it became New York,

Rutherfurd Stuyvesant (1843–1909), who was married to Mary Rutherfurd Pierrepont (1842–1879). a granddaughter of Peter Augustus Jay. After her death, he married Countess Mathilde Elizabeth Loewenguth de Wassanaer (1877–1948) the widow of a Dutch Count. Helen Rutherfurd (1844–1845), who died young. Louisa Morris Rutherfurd (1855–1892) Winthrop Chanler Rutherfurd (1862–1944), who married Alice Morton (1879–1917), a daughter of former U.S. Vice President Levi Parsons Morton and Anna Livingston Reade Street. After her death, he married Lucy Mercer, a mistress of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1887, his health began to fail. Rutherfurd died on May 30, 1892, at his home, Tranquility, New Jersey.

Awards and honors Richard Proctor, the greatest popularizer of astronomy in the nineteenth century, called Rutherfurd "the greatest lunar photographer of the age."

The lunar crater Rutherfurd is named after him. A professorship in Columbia University's astronomy department is named in his honor, as is the astronomical observatory atop Columbia's Pupin Hall. He was made an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of London He was made a Doctor of Law at the centennial celebration of Columbia in 1887.