“By the Light of a Victorian Moon”: Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn and the Telescopic Lunar Photographs

Thereza Mary Story-Maskelyne, neé Dillwyn Llewelyn (1834–1926) was born in Wales and is regarded as a pioneer in scientific photography. Although not the first, the telescopic moon photographs taken, in 1855, by Thereza and her father John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810–1832) are groundbreaking. The primary aim of the present article is to analyze the contribution of Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn in Astrophotography. The first part presents a brief chronology of lunar photography; the second part looks closely at the Dillwyn Llewelyn scientific family history and this inheritance in Thereza’s field of interests, as astronomy, botanic and photography. Due to her unique and unconventional scientific contribution, for a woman in the Victorian Era, her experiences extended onwards in the lunar photographic exploration.