Sir William Herschel was born in Hannover, Germany, in 1738. He made his reputation, however, as an English astronomer credited with the discovery of Uranus. His journey from Hanover, to the first discovery of a planet in modern times, and beyond, is nothing short of spectacular.
Son of an army musician, Herschel took to the same profession and played in the band till he was in Germany. When the French occupied Hannover in 1757, he escaped to England, to continue with the music industry, as a teacher, composer and performer.
It was his interest in music that led him to study it, which he did using Robert Smith’s Harmonics. One thing led to another and soon he was engrossed in Smith’s works concerning optics, which introduced him to astronomy.
Builds telescopeSoon, Herschel was involved in observing the night sky and realised that in order to view distant celestial objects, he would have to improve his telescopes. He wasn’t content with the supplies he received from the opticians, forcing him to build his own telescopes. He did have his failures but his later attempts provided telescopes that were even superior to those housed in the Greenwich Observatory.
His sister, Caroline, moved to live with him in 1772 and proved to be his most able assistant through much of his career. After a couple of telescopic surveys, Herschel finally had his moment of fame.
First the planet and then the moonsDuring his third survey of the night sky in 1781, Herschel noticed a small object, which was moving slowly across the sky over the course of nights. Though he first suspected it to be a comet, closer observation revealed that it was in fact the planet Uranus, the first to be discovered since prehistoric times.
The discovery of Uranus catapulted Herschel to instant fame, getting him introductions to the Royal Society of London, awards including the Copley Medal and even an annual pension. This meant that at the age of 43, Herschel was finally a professional astronomer, who could give up his music practice to earn his living and dedicate himself exclusively to astronomy.
Over the next six years, he concerned himself with nebulae, peering through his telescope and describing the objects that he saw to Caroline, who made copious notes of the observations. And then, on January 11, 1787, his gaze once again turned towards Uranus, enabling him to discover Titania, Uranus’ largest moon, and Oberon, the second-largest moon of Uranus.
No lesser achievementsThough Herschel turned professional in the field of astronomy only in his mid life, he was highly successful due to his zeal and dedication. Not to be forgotten is Caroline’s selfless support through the years, without which Herschel would have been seriously handicapped. Caroline herself had a number of firsts to her name, including being the first woman to discover a comet and the first woman to receive an honorary membership into the Royal society.
Write to A.S.Ganesh at ganesh.a.s@thehindu.co.in
