INTRODUCTION OF CAROLINE LUCRETIA HERSCHEL
Caroline Lucretius
Herschel
Caroline Lucretius Herschel (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-Ringlet, which bears her name.[1] She was also the sister of
astronomer William Herschel, with whom she worked throughout her career.
She was the first woman to be paid for her
contribution to science, 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 also 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). [2]
1. She was the first woman to be paid for her contribution to
science
MS Herschel was
given an annual salary of £50 by King George III in 1796 for her role as
assistant to her brother, astronomer Sir William Herschel.
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After her brother
married, she began more independent astronomical work for which she become the
first woman to be awarded with the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical
Society in 1838.
A woman did not receive
this award again till Vera Rubin won in 1996.
2. There is a comet named after her
In recognition of her
discovering it in 1788, the periodic 35P/Herschel-Ringlet comet was named in
her honors. It has an orbital period of 155 years.
In addition, a crater in
the "Sea of showers" on the moon is known as C Herschel after
her.
Caroline
Lucretia Herschel was born in the town of Hanover on
16 March 1750. She was the eighth child and fourth daughter of Isaac Herschel,
aJewish oboist, and his Christian wife,
Anna Ilse Moritzen. Isaac became a bandmaster in the Guards, was away with his
regiment for substantial periods, and suffered ill-health after the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.[2]
At the age of
ten, Caroline was struck with typhus, which stunted her growth, so that she
never grew past four feet three inches.[1] Her family assumed that she would never marry and her mother
felt it was best for her to train to be a house servant. Her father wished her
to receive an education, but her mother opposed this. Her father sometimes took
advantage of her mother's absence to teach her directly or include her in her
brother's lessons. Caroline was allowed to learn millinery and dress-making and
worked hard at various types of fancy-work, with a view to someday supporting
herself.[2]
Following her
father's death, her brother William proposed that she join him in Bath,
England, "to make the trial if by his instruction I might not become a
useful singer for his winter concerts and oratorios".[2] Caroline eventually left Hanover on 16 August 1772, and
accompanied her brother William back to England. There she took on the
responsibilities of running his household, and learning to sing. William had
established himself as an organist and music teacher at 19 New King Street, Bath, Somerset (now the Herschel
Museum of Astronomy). He was also the choirmaster of the Octagon Chapel.
William was busy with his musical career and became fairly busy organising
public concerts. Caroline did not blend in with the local society and made few
friends,[3] but took several singing lessons a day from William. She became
the principal singer at his oratorio concerts,
and acquired such a reputation as a vocalist that she was offered an engagement
for theBirmingham festival.
She declined to sing for any conductor but William.[2]
William and Caroline Herschel
polishing a telescope lens, 1896 Lithograph.
When William
became increasingly interested in astronomy, transforming himself from a
musician to an astronomer, Caroline again supported his efforts. She said
somewhat bitterly, in her Memoir, "I did nothing for my brother but what a
well-trained puppy dog would have done, that is to say, I did what he commanded
me." It is clear, however, from the independent work she did during
William's lifetime, from her work after William's death, and from the interest
in astronomy displayed in her letters throughout her life, that Caroline became
as interested in astronomy as William.[2] She became a significant astronomer in her own right as a result
of her collaboration with him.[1]
Throughout her
writings, she repeatedly makes it clear that she desires to earn an independent
wage and be able to support herself. When the state began paying her for her
assistance to her brother, she became the first woman—at a time when even men
rarely received wages for scientific enterprises—to receive a salary for
services to science.[4]
When William
married a rich widow, Mary Pitt (née Baldwin), in 1788, the union caused
tension in the brother-sister relationship. Caroline has been referred to as a
bitter, jealous woman who worshipped her brother and resented those who invaded
their domestic lives.[5] In his book The Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes is more sympathetic to Caroline's
position, noting that the change was in many respects negative for Caroline.
With the arrival of William's wife, Caroline lost her managerial and social
responsibilities in the household and accompanying status. According to her
memoir, she also moved from the house to external lodgings, returning daily to
work with her brother. She no longer held the keys to the observatory and
workroom, where she had done much of her own work.[2] Because she destroyed her journals from 1788 to 1798, her
feelings about the period are not entirely known. Barthélemy
Faujas de Saint-Fondindicated she and her brother continued working
well during this period. When her brother and his family were away from home,
she often returned there to take care of it for them. In later life, she and
Lady Herschel exchanged affectionate letters and she became deeply attached to
her nephew, astronomer John Herschel.[2]
William's
marriage likely led to Caroline's becoming more independent of her brother and
more a figure in her own right.[6]Caroline made
many discoveries independently of William, and continued to work solo on many
of the astronomical projects which contributed to her rise to fame.
After her
brother died in 1822, she was grief-stricken and moved back to Hanover, Germany.[7] Caroline Herschel died at Hanover on 9 January 1848. She is
buried at 35 Marienstrasse in Hanover at the cemetery of the Gartengemeinde.
