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Herschel family , three persons who transformed the science of astronomy. They were Frederick William (originally Friedrich Wilhelm) Herschel, later Sir William (b. Nov. 15, 1738, Hanover, now in West Germany— d. Aug. 25, 1822, Slough, Buckinghamshire), his sister Caroline Lucretia (b. March 16, 1750, Hanover—d. Jan. 9, 1848, Hanover), and Sir William’s only child, by his wife, Mary, John Frederick William, later Sir John (b. March 7, 1792, Slough—d. May 11, 1871, Collingwood, Kent).
Abstract of text biography. William Herschel, originally a musician, settled in England in 1757 on the French occupation of Hanover, and began to make telescopes, eventually (1789) producing one with a mirror diameter of 48 inches and focal length of 40 feet, one of the marvels of 18th-century technology. His sister Caroline, an excellent astronomer in her own right, who discovered eight comets, acted as his assistant through much of his career.
In 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus. He developed the hypothesis that nebulae are composed of stars, as well as a theory of stellar evolution. His observations resulted in three catalogs listing 2,500 nebulae and star clusters, where about 100 had previously been known, and 848 double stars. He was knighted in 1816.
John Herschel went to Cambridge, studiedlaw, and then taught mathematics at Cambridge, before going to work for his father. He made important contributions to the study of stellar parallax. In 1833 38 he lived in South Africa to carry on observations from the Southern Hemisphere; these were published in 1847. He made important contributions in chemistry, physics, and mathematics as well as astronomy. He was knighted in 1831 and later made a baronet.
