The Herschel Siblings and their Influence on Astronomy

David Singapogu

Classical Conversations, Challenge B

Astronomy

21 October 2021

The Herschel Siblings and their Influence on Astronomy

    WIlliam and Caroline Herschel were a brother-sister pair who discovered many objects in space, including comets, nebulae, galaxies and the planet Uranus. Their influence on astronomy lives on to this day as research and space exploration continues through what they discovered.

    WIlliam Frederick Herschel was born on November 15, 1738, and Caroline Lucretia Herchel was born March 16, 1750. Following in his fathers footsteps, William was a musician, playing in the band of the Hanoverian Guards. Even after the French occupation, he composed and taught music in England! Caroline was not so fortunate as a child, however. At the age of ten she was diagnosed with typhus, a disease that stunted her growth. As a result, her growth topped out at four feet three inches. Her mother also opposed the idea of her going to school,so instead she helped out in the household. However as she grew up, she did develop her skills in singing. Although their early life was nothing extravagant, it prepared them nevertheless, for what was to come.

     When William started getting interested in astronomy, he would look at the moon, sun and stars. However he quickly became discontented with this and wanted to look at more distant bodies such as nebulae and other galaxies. The only problem here was that there were no telescopes that powerful in his day, and although it was possible to fashion one with the current technology, other manufacturers of telescopes were not willing to collaborate with him to create one for a reasonable price. But William would not be stopped, he ground his own mirrors. At first it was hard, and after many failed attempts even he accepted defeat, but after a while he grew discontented and took another stab at it and was able to create a telescope that was better than the telescopes used at the Greenwich Observatory. But on the other side of the story Caroline was just as hard at work. In 1783 she discovered three new nebulae on her own, and in 1786 she became the first woman to discover a comet! But she did not stop there, and eleven years later she spotted seven more comets, making her the first professional female astronomer. In the meantime William was pondering space with his newly contrived telescope, the best in the world! He had been closely tracking a certain star's progress over a couple days and suddenly it struck him that its movement was not that of the other neighboring stars. And wait… is it a star? After watching it for several more days he realized it was a new planet--it was Uranus, well sort of… Originally, William wanted to call it ”Gorgium Sidus” or “George’s Star.” However, after realizing that wasn't practical, he decided on the name Uranus. After discovering Uranus, William, not surprisingly, received a lot of attention. Unfortunately, William died at the age of 83 on August 25, 1822. However, soon after his death, Caroline finished a catalog which she named The New General Catalogue which contained observations including over two thousand five hundred nebulae, and many star clusters! Their discoveries were ground-breaking, and to this day are acknowledged by astronomers around the world.

    The Herschels’ legacy is still in motion to this day. William’s telescopes have been replicated and have been found to be some of the best. And many astronomers after them built off of their work. On May 14, 2009 NASA launched the Herschel Space Observatory to continue their legacy.

    William and Caroline Heschel were intrepid astronomers who set out to conquer the farthest unsearched corners of the universe. To this day their legacy lives on in their work, their influence on the science, and the Herschel Space Observatory!

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Caroline Herschel". Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 17 October 2021.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "William Herschel". Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 17 October 2021.

Herschel, Caroline Lucretia.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Jan. 2018, p. 1

“Herschel, Sir William.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Jan. 2018, p. 1

“"William Herschel." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 29 Jan. 2021.