Herschel
Herschel names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Herschel SIR WILLIAM, an English astronomer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR WILLIAM, an English astronomer; born in Hanover, Prussia, Nov. 15, 1738. The son of a musician, he went to England in 1757, and was employed in the formation of a military band. He had for some time devoted his leisure hours to the study of mathematics and astronomy; and, being dissatisfied with the only telescopes within his reach, he set about constructing instruments for himself. Late in 1779 he began a regular survey of the heavens, star by star, with a 7-foot reflector, and discovered, March 13, 1781, a new primary planet, named by him the GEORGIUM SIDUS. This discovery extended his fame throughout the world and brought him a pension of £200. He then took up his residence at Datchet, near Windsor, where he made many discoveries in double and triple stars, on the proper motion of the sun and solar system, the spots at the pole of Mars, and the nebulæ and cluster of stars observed by Messier and Mechain. In 1787, he discovered a 2d and 4th satellite of the Georgium Sidus, and in 1790 and 1799, five other satellites, viz., the 1st, 3d, 5th, and 6th. In 1781, George III. defrayed the expense of a 40-foot telescope. With this magnificent instrument Herschel discovered the 6th and 7th satellites, and also the spots, belts, and flattening on the four new planets between Mars and Jupiter. We owe to him also the discovery of invisible heating rays beyond the red extremity of the spectrum. In 1820 he was elected the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society, and published in the first volume of its "Transactions" a paper on 145 new double stars. He died in Slough, near Windsor, England, Aug. 25, 1822.
Herschel SIR JOHN FREDER- ICK WILLIAM, an English astronomer and physicist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR JOHN FREDER- ICK WILLIAM, an English astronomer and physicist; only son of Sir William Herschel; born in Slough, near Windsor, England, March 7, 1792. In 1813 he graduated at Cambridge. He spent eight years reviewing the nebulæ and clusters of stars discovered by his father. The results were given in 1833 to the Royal Society in the form of a catalogue of stars. In 1830 he produced his excellent " Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy." In 1834 he established, at his own expense, an observatory at Feldhuysen, near Cape Town, Africa. He returned to England in 1838 and in 1847 published "Results of Astronomical Observations made during 1834-1838 at the Cape of Good Hope, being the Completion of a Telescopic Survey of the Whole Surface of the Visible Heavens." He was one of the earliest pioneers in photography; and on the queen's coronation he was created a baronet. Among his other works are "Outlines of Astronomy," "Far Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects," and a translation of the Iliad in verse. He died May 11, 1871.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The lives are as Collier's told them in 1921, but two details have moved on. The planet Herschel called the Georgium Sidus after his royal patron has long been known as Uranus, the name proposed by Johann Bode, and of the many satellites Collier's credits to him only the two he found in 1787, Titania and Oberon, are real: Ariel and Umbriel were discovered by William Lassell in 1851, and Herschel's other reported moons were optical illusions. The "four new planets between Mars and Jupiter" are now understood as the largest of hundreds of thousands of asteroids, and Ceres was reclassified a dwarf planet in 2006. Two things the entry gets exactly right still stand: Herschel's detection of invisible heat rays beyond the red end of the spectrum founded infrared astronomy, and the family name was carried into space on the European Space Agency's Herschel infrared observatory, launched in 2009.
Written for this edition, 2026.