Caroline Herschel Research Paper

This essay is of a woman astronomer Caroline Herschel. Herschel was the first lady to discover a comet. The reason why I chose this topic is because apart from being a women astronomer she also showed her prominence in mathematics. She hailed from a musician background but her fortune brought her to the field of astronomy and today we stand witnessing vital discoveries such as of comets, which is a very significant topic of research in this modern era. She has been recognized and honored worldwide for her work.

Caroline, nicknamed Lina, was born in Hanover, Germany on March 16, 1750, the fifth of six children of Isaac Herschel and Anna Ilse Moritzen. Her father was a talented musician. He encouraged all his children to train in mathematics, French and music. Caroline's mother did not see the need for a girl to become educated and preferred to make Caroline a house servant to the rest of the family. Isaac gave his daughter a rudimentary education, despite his wife's disapproval.
At the age of three Caroline was scarred due to smallpox.
It disfigured her left eye and pock-marked her cheeks. At the age of ten Caroline was stricken with typhus. The disease permanently stunted her growth. Her diminutive height of 4'3" was caused by this disease. Thanks to the deformities caused by her illnesses, her parents concluded that she would never marry but would live her life as an old maid. Caroline remained in her parents' home until, at the age of twenty-two, her brother, Freidrich Wilhelm (nicknamed Fritz and later known as William), took her to live with him in Bath, England. Caroline became her brother's
housekeeper. William was an accomplished musician and a conductor. He gave Caroline voice lessons and trained her in mathematics as well. Caroline became a well known soprano and began to sing professionally. William's hobby was astronomy and he devoted most of his free time to making more and more powerful telescopes with which to look deeper into space. William's reputation as a telescope maker grew to such an extent that he quit his job as a musician and devoted all of his time to the making of telescopes and to astronomy. Caroline began to help her brother in the manufacture of telescopes and to share his passion for astronomy. Caroline first served as her brother's apprentice then began to function more and more on her own. She helped her brother develop the modern mathematical approach to astronomy. In 1781, William discovered the planet Uranus and astronomy became his livelihood, with his sister by his side. It was only while William was away that Caroline was able to make her own observations, discoveries which guaranteed her place in history. In 1783 Caroline Herschel discovered three new nebulae (hazy clouds where stars form). On August 1, 1786, Caroline discovered her first comet and became history's first woman with this distinction. Her comet came to be known as the "first lady's comet" and brought with it the fame that secured her own place in history books. This first discovery of a comet by a woman brought Caroline to the attention of the world. In 1787 King George III gave Caroline a £50 per year salary to continue as William's assistant. With this step, she became the first woman officially recognized for a scientific position. Although Caroline continued to work as William's assistant, she also began to do more independent work. By 1797 she had discovered seven more comets. Her second comet is now known as periodic comet Herschel-Rigollet and returns every 155 years. Besides her comet hunting, Caroline also began re-cataloging Flamsteed's star catalog and submitted it to the Royal Society in 1798, along with another 560 stars which Flamsteed had omitted. After William died in 1822, Caroline returned to Hanover and completed William's catalogue of 2500 nebulae. Shortly thereafter, she received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society on February 8, 1828. She went on to receive other honors including becoming the first woman to receive honorary membership into Britain's Royal Society in 1835, election into the Royal Irish Academy in 1838, and awarded the Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia in 1846 on her 96th birthday. Caroline wrote her own epitaph, which was engraved on her tombstone upon her death on January 9, 1848. It reads, "The eyes of her who is glorified here below turned to the starry heavens." In 1889, Caroline received a final honor for her achievements when a minor planet was named "Lucretia," her middle name. The story of Caroline Lucretia Hershel is a Cinderella fairy tale. But it wasn’t a prince bearing a glass slipper that changed her life. It was the glass of telescopes and a prince as a brother that saved her from a cindery existence.

This topic was quite new to me. I was inspired to know that despite being handicapped, Hershel followed astronomy and mathematics. She assisted her brother William in making telescopes as well as bringing modern mathematics into astronomy. She became the first women to discover a comet in 1786, which also brought her world fame with recognition by King George III. Moreover, she received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. And to top them all, in 1889, a minor planet was named "Lucretia," her middle name, as an appreciation to her work and discoveries, making her an inspiration figure for other women.

Sources:

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/herschel.html

http://www.womanastronomer.com/caroline_herschel.htm

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/scienceastronomy/p/herschel.htm

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level1/herschel.html