Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel Discovered Uranus and Moons on Gas Giants

Born in Germany as Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, it wasn’t until his was 30 when he discovered what his true passion was. One night while he was looking at the night sky with his sister Caroline, he discovered Uranus and several of moons around other gas giants. While he was alive, he compiled a catalogue of 2,500 celestial objects that are still being used in today’s society. While in his early life he mainly studied music with his sister. His sister, Caroline was the first women to discover a comet, and the first women to get given a paid scientific position and to receive an honorary membership into the Royal Society. William Herschel will come up with the Theory of The Evolution of The Stars.

The early years of William Herschel

William’s father was an army musician. Following his father’s profession, he played for the Hanoverian Guards. When the French took over Hanover in 1757, he escaped to England where he made a living by copying music. He started to improvise by starting to teach music, and finally, he became a composer. In 1766, he was appointed organist of the Chapel of Beth. His curiosities with music lead him to read Robert Smith’s Harmonics. After finding Smith’s book interesting, he read A Complete System of Opticks, which introduced him to telescope construction. Herschel told himself that he wasn’t going to study the Sun and Moon like every other astronomer did. He instead, thought of trying to look for different celestial bodies. The problem was he would need massive lens for this job, much more then he could afford for a reasonable price, so he instead decided to carve them himself. They were ground from metal disks of copper, tin, and antimony in various proportions. His attempts seemed to be useless though, in h...

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... it attracted many visitors. Even Princess’ and Dukes came to visit his prized telescope. While living in Slough, Herschel discovered four moons, two orbiting Saturn and two orbiting Uranus. Herschel’s telescope also showed 75 million stars that weren’t able to be seen before.

Conclusion

William Herschel is still known today for his telescopes that have been sold around the world. He took something no one else would do and did what he was passionate about. Today, he is credited with discovering Uranus, and discovering 4 moons, two orbiting Saturn, and two orbiting Uranus. With the help of his sister and brother, he was able to discover 2000 celestial bodies in the sky. Herschel was able to see 75 million stars that weren’t visible with any other telescope at the time. He was able to entertain princesses and dukes with his massive telescope that was 6 meters tall.