William Herschel
'The phenomena of nature, especially those that fall under the inspection of the astronomers, are to be viewed, not only with the usual attention to facts as they occur, but with the eye of reason and experience.' - William Herschel
Life in Short
Scouring the heavens with his sister, Caroline, Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and several moons around other gas giants. In the course of his studies of the night sky, he also compiled a catalog of 2,500 celestial objects that is still in use today. But it wasn't until his mid-30s that he began to turn his eyes to the expanse above. Born in Germany as Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, the astronomer was the son of Anna Ilse Moritzen and Issak Herschel. His father was a military musician, and young William played in the same band in his early years. In 1759, Herschel left Germany for England, where he taught music before becoming an organist. On March 13, 1781, Herschel noticed a small object that, over the course of several nights, was slowly moving across the sky. At first he thought he had found a comet, but further observation revealed that the object was a planet. This was the start of Herschel’s love for cosmology. |
|