Women Scientists

Caroline Herschel 1750-1848

At a glance:

18th century discoverer of comets

Caroline Herschel was born in Germany but moved to England to join her brother William when she was 22. William was initially an organist and she was a fine singer. But he became interested in astronomy and devised ever bigger telescopes, accepting the job of King's Astronomer to George III in 1782. Caroline was his indispensable assistant, performing the complex calculations necessary to his observations. When William married, she made observations of her own, discovering eight comets. She cross indexed John Flamsteed's catalogue of stars, which was full of errors, showing the errata and adding a further 560 stars which he had not included and also produced a catalogue of nebulae. She was given the Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society in 1823 and in 1835 became with Mary Somerville, the first woman to be awarded honorary membership of the Royal Society. She died in Germany in full possession of all her faculties, aged 98.
Caroline Herschel

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