Author:
Edward Walter Maunder (1851-1928)
Use of the "butterfly diagram'' to study the variation of sunspots over time, leading to the discovery that they were markedly reduced in frequency from 1645--1715 (the "Maunder minimum''). [Earlier work, started in 1843 by H. Schwabe, showed that sunspots exhibit an approximately twenty-two year cycle, with each eleven-year cycle of sunspots followed by a reversal of the direction of the sun's magnetic field]
Category:
Statistics & Graphics