Caroline Herschel
German-British astronomer (1750-1848)
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Caroline Herschel was a German-British astronomer who lived from 1750 to 1848 and made significant contributions to astronomy during a time when few women worked in science. She matters because she demonstrated that women could conduct rigorous scientific research and made discoveries that advanced the field of astronomy.
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Quotes
- “"I wish you joy most sincerely on the discovery. I am more pleased than you can well conceive that you have made it, and I think I see your wonderfully clever and wonderfully amiable brother, upon the news of it, shed a tear of joy. You have immortalized your name, and you deserve such a reward for your assiduity in the business of astronomy, and for your love for so celebrated and deserving a brother.”
- “It may easily be supposed that I must have been fully employed (besides minding the heavens) to prepare everything as well as I could against the time I was to give up the place of housekeeper on the 8th of May."”
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Article
Caroline Lucretia Herschel (/ˈhɜːrʃəl, ˈhɛərʃəl/ HUR-shəl, HAIR-shəl, German: [kaʁoˈliːnə ˈhɛʁʃl̩]; 16 March 1750 – 9 January 1848) was a German astronomer, whose most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigollet, which bears her name. She was the younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, with whom she worked for most of her career.
She was the first known professional female astronomer, and the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist, and the first woman in England to hold a government position. She was also the first woman to publish scientific findings in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, to be awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828), and to be named an honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1835, with Mary Somerville). She was named an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy (1838). The King of Prussia presented her with a gold medal for Science on the occasion of her 96th birthday (1846).
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1750 births1848 deaths18th-century British astronomers18th-century British women scientists18th-century German astronomers19th-century British astronomers19th-century British women scientists19th-century German astronomersDiscoverers of astronomical objectsDiscoverers of cometsGerman emigrants to the Kingdom of Great BritainHerschel family