On this day in 1887 Balfour Stewart, the Scottish meteorologist and geophysicist, died.
He was noted for his studies of terrestrial magnetism, and his research on radiant heat contributed to the foundation of spectrum analysis: he made the important discovery that objects radiate and absorb energy of the same wavelength. In 1887, Stewart suffered a stroke while crossing to spend Christmas at his estate in Ireland and died soon after at the age of 59.
