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William and Caroline Herschel, Astronomer Siblings

5/17/2025

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Color drawing of Caroline, a white woman with brown curly hair pulled up and wearing a pink dress with a white collar, serves tea to her brother William. He is a white man in a powdered wig, wearing a white shirt and yellow and blue vest, who is working on a mirror for a telescope. They stand in front of a large bookcase and a map of the solar system.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, siblings William and Caroline Herschel dedicated their lives to studying the stars. Among their accomplishments were discovering a planet (William) and comets (Caroline), causing them to leave their marks on the field of astronomy forever. This episode of Footnoting History explores their fascinating lives from their surprisingly musical beginnings to their astronomical achievements.

Host: Christine
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Further Reading
Sources Specifically about the Herschels and their Work
Claire Brock, The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical Ambition, Icon Books, (2007).

Caroline Herschel’s Autobiographies, edited by Michael Hoskin, Science History Publications/Cambridge, (2003).

"Caroline Herschel: The First Paid Female Astronomer," Royal Museums Greenwich.

“Caroline Lucretia Herschel,” National Portrait Gallery.

“Caroline and William Herschel: Revealing the Invisible,” European Space Agency.

“Copley Medal,” The Royal Society. 

Michael J. Crowe, "Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, first baronet (1792–1871), mathematician and astronomer," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (23 Sep. 2004).

Louise Devoy, "Remembering Sir John F.W. Herschel (1792-1871)," Royal Museums Greenwich, (12 May 2021).

Alfred Richard Diethe, Sir William Herschel and Caroline Herschel. Colour lithograph, Wellcome Collection, (1896?)

Patricia Fara, "The First Lady's Comet," The Royal Society, (8 May 2023).

“Gold Medal (A),” Royal Astronomical Society.

“Herschel Family Tree,” Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

Michael Hoskin, The Construction of the Heavens: William Herschel's Cosmology, Cambridge University Press, (2012).

---, Discoverers of the Universe: William and Caroline Herschel, Princeton University Press, (2011).

---,  "Herschel, Caroline Lucretia (1750–1848), astronomer," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (23 Sep. 2004).

---, "Herschel, William (1738–1822), musician and astronomer," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (23 Sep. 2004).  

John F. W. Herschel Letters--Dates: 1807-1875, Royal Society.

Michael D. Lemonick, The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized our Understanding of the Cosmos, W.W. Norton & Co., (2009).

Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, edited by Mrs. John Herschel, John Murray, (1876).

Roberta J. M. Olson and Jay M. Pasachoff, “The Comets of Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), Sleuth of the Skies at Slough,” Culture and Cosmos, vol. 16, nos. 1 and 2, (2012).
​
“Sir William Herschel,” National Portrait Gallery.

A. Spokes Symonds, and Katherine Prior, "Herschel, Sir William James, second baronet (1833–1917), developer of fingerprinting and judge," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (23 Sep. 2004).

Jack R. White, "Herschel and the Puzzle of Infrared," American Scientist, vol. 100, no. 3, (2012).

“William & John Herschel”, Westminster Abbey.

Emily Winterburn, "Caroline Herschel: Agency and Self-Presentation," Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, vol. 69, no. 1, (2015): 69-83.

---, “Philomaths, Herschel, and the Myth of the Self-Taught Man,” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, vol. 68, no. 3, (2014): 207–25. 

—, The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel: The Lost Heroine of Astronomy, The History Press, (2019).

Sources Specifically about Astronomy and Space
“Enceladus [Moon of Saturn],” via NASA.

“Glossary,” via Webb Space Telescope.

“Herschel Closes its Eyes on the Universe,” European Space Agency, (2013).

“Herschel Science Highlights,” European Space Agency.

“How do Telescopes Work?,” NASA Space Place. 

Images of a reflecting telescope by William Herschel, 1783-1785, Science Museum Group.

"Infrared Waves," NASA.

“The Largest Infrared Space telescope,” European Space Agency.

“Mimas [Moon of Saturn],” NASA.

“Nebulae within the Orion Constellation,” Adler Planetarium.

“Oberon [Moon of Uranus],” NASA.

Asif A. Siddiqi, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016, NASA, (2018).

“Telescopes 101,” NASA.

“Titania [Moon of Uranus],” NASA.

“Uranus,” NASA.

“Uranus: The First Planet Discovered with a Telescope,” Science Museum.

YouTube Videos about the Pronunciation of “Uranus”
The following are presented as a sample of what the internet has to offer regarding the pronunciation of the name of the planet Uranus, not as an endorsement of any one version or its creator(s).


Fraser Cain, “Scientists Explain How Do You Pronounce URANUS”, (2019).

James Harbeck, “Pronunciation Tips: Uranus”, (2023).

Naztronomy, “How did the planet URANUS get its name and how do you pronounce it? #astronomy”, (2023).

Professor Dave Explains, “Uranus: It’s Pronounced “YOOR-uh-nus”, (2019).

​​Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)
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