CAROLINA HERSCHEL: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND DISCOVERIES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) was a German astronomer, whose most relevant contributions to science were the discoveries of various comets and nebulae in the Milky Way.

Caroline was the younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, with whom she worked throughout her career as a scientist. She has been recognized as the first woman to discover the first comet and the first to receive a Gold Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society of London and to be named an Honorary Member.

By Mrs. John Herschel, via Wikimedia Commons

During the years 1786 and 1797, he came to discover eight planets, of which six are named after him. She has held the record as the only woman to discover more comets, nebulae and spiral galaxies, all written in the New General Catalog.

Caroline Herschel became the first woman to be paid for her scientific services, after she was paid by the crown as an assistant to her brother, William Herschel. At that time, no woman was able to receive a salary from official entities and even few men enjoyed this privilege.

Biography

Childhood

Caroline Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany, on March 16, 1750. She was born Caroline Lucretia Herschel and was the eighth child of Isaac Herschel and Anna Ilse Moritzen. Her father was the director of the Hanoverian band known as the Foot Guard in 1731.

In 1743, after the Battle of Dettingen (War of the Austrian Succession), his father fell ill and never fully recovered. When her older sister married, Caroline took on the greatest domestic burden.

Caroline and her siblings received an informal education; they only learned to read and write. Her mother had the concept that women should only receive good education to be housewives.

At age ten, Caroline suffered from an infectious disease known as typhus, which stunted her growth. As a result of such a disease, she lost vision in her left eye. After the illness, her mother thought she would never marry. For this, he decided to train her as a servant instead of her studies.

First studies

His father took advantage of each absence of his wife to give him private violin lessons, including her in the lessons of his brothers. In addition, she learned to make dresses and embroidery; however, her efforts as a seamstress were hampered by housework.

After his father's death, his brothers William and Alexander proposed that he join them in Bath, England, to try out as a performing singer in churches. Finally, on August 16, 1772, he left Hanover to join his brother William in the United Kingdom.

Caroline took on the responsibility of managing William's home in England and began her singing lessons. Although she did not want to mix with English society, she received dance lessons from a local teacher.

Parallel to that, he received singing, English and arithmetic classes. Also, she learned to play the harpsichord and participated in William's musical performance at some meetings.

On the other hand, she became the lead singer at her brother's concerts. She became so famous in her craft that, in 1778, she was offered to participate in the Birmingham festival as a soloist. After that performance, her singing career went into decline.

Scientific career

William left music and began to pursue astronomy, which led Caroline to follow in his footsteps. Under the command of her brother, Caroline finally began to train in such a discipline.

Around the 1770s, as William became increasingly interested in astronomy, he began to build his own telescopes in view of his discontent with the poor-quality tools available at the time.

Caroline, parallel to her musical studies, helped her brother in his astronomical innovations. William constantly asked her to read with him, which increased his interest in the discipline.

In 1781, the Herschel brothers moved into a new home after their hat business failed. The night that Caroline organized the last of their merchandise, William discovered the planet Uranus.

Caroline entered the world of astronomy helping her brother in the annotations of the celestial bodies observed by him, until he ended up making his own observations. By 1786, they both opened a small observatory.

When William worked for the King of England, George III, the crown assigned Caroline a salary as his personal assistant.

First discoveries

As William's fame grew, so did Caroline's recognition for supporting him in his endeavors. Caroline spent hours polishing mirrors and mounting a telescope to maximize the quality of the captured light; she was considered a careful and meticulous person.

He also learned to copy astronomical catalogs and other scientific publications; In addition, he learned to record, reduce and optimize all the observations that his brother made. Additionally, he made several tours of the sky looking for new objects.

In 1782 he was commissioned to start his first book; the first of many he wrote throughout his life. On February 26, 1783, Caroline found a nebula that was not included in Messier's catalog. It also independently discovered one of the satellites (Missier 110) of the Andromeda galaxy.

Soon, William built him a telescope specialized in searching for comets, which he began to use immediately. That same year, the Herschels used the 20-foot reflector telescope to search for nebulae.

Relationship with his brother

After William married Mary Pitt, in 1788, the relationship between Caroline and her brother fell apart completely. Caroline has been referred to as a woman of bad character, jealous and resentful of all those who invade her home.

The arrival of Mary Pitt made Caroline get out of control, forgetting her administrative and social tasks. She moved out of her brother's house, coming back each day to work with her.

He broke his diaries between 1788 and 1798, so it is not known what his feelings were in that period. However, in 1799, she was independently recognized for her work.

William and Mary's marriage led to Caroline's almost complete separation from William for a long time. She made other discoveries, this time without the help of her brother, achieving rise to fame as an independent woman.

Last years

After the death of her brother in 1822, Caroline moved back to Hanover and continued her studies in astronomy to verify William's work and the production of various catalogs that later served her nephew, John Herschel.

Caroline was physically active, enjoying good health and socializing with scientific groups. During her last years she wrote all her memories, lamenting her physical limitations that prevented her from making many more discoveries.

Death

On January 9, 1848, the woman died peacefully in Hanover. Caroline Herschel is buried in the Gartengemeinde cemetery, along with her parents. A lock of hair from her brother William accompanies her on her grave.

Recognitions

The asteroid 281 Lucretia, discovered in 1888, received the second name of Caroline Herschel; as well as one of the lunar craters, which is named C. Herschel.

Adrienne Rich's poem, Platenario, from 1968, acknowledges the life and accomplishments of Caroline Herschel. Feminist Judy Chicago's artwork The Dinner Party introduces you to a place alongside other women who made extraordinary discoveries.

On March 16, 2016, the Google company honored Herschel through its Google Doodle for what would be his 266th birthday.

On the other hand, Herschel was honored by the King of Prussia and the Royal Astronomical Society of London for all her finds.

In 1828, he was awarded a Gold Medal by the Astronomical Society. Also, she was elected as an honorary member in 1835, being Mary Somerville and she the first women to be official members of this organization.

In 1846, at the age of 96, the King of Prussia awarded him a Gold Medal for Science, which was presented by Alexander Von Humboldt.

Contributions and discoveries

Herschel telescopes

The Herschel brothers were commissioned to build countless telescopes; William designed them and with the help of approximately 40 workers the most ostentatious were built. William, helped by Caroline, discovered the planet Uranus thanks to the superiority of his telescope.

After the discovery of Uranus, the Herschels replaced the 15-centimeter telescope with a 22.5-centimeter diameter telescope with a 3-meter-long tube that allowed them more clarity.

Almost consecutively they built other telescopes, 48 ​​centimeters in diameter placed in a 6 meter tube. With each manufacture, the Herschel appealed to a significant improvement in sharpness that allowed them to better observe the stars.

After the success of the other telescopes, King George III believed in the Herschel brothers and helped finance another telescope. In 1786, a telescope was built with a 1.22 meter diameter mirror attached to a 12 meter long tube.

For the construction of that telescope, more than 40 men collaborated and for the polishing of the mirror, work that Caroline carried out meticulously, William devised a mechanical system. It was one of the largest and most efficient telescopes of the time.

Galaxy map

At the end of the 18th century, Caroline in the company of her brother set out to map the three-dimensional distribution of the Milky Way. As part of their studies, they set out to count the stars by finding a number of them in one direction, concluding that the edge of the Milky Way was very far away.

Finally, they concluded that if their telescope revealed fewer stars in another direction, the edge of the Milky Way must be closer. On the other hand, the studies he carried out served to conclude that all the stars in the galaxy revolve around a large force of gravity located in the center.

Discovery of the nebulae

When Caroline was separated from her brother, she decided to conduct her observations alone. With the telescope that William gave her, she was able to detect clouds of gas called nebulae.

At the time, no one made maps to observe the nebulae, so she and her brother were given the task of designing a map on which they could record them.

In the summer of 1783, William finished building a telescope for Caroline designed specifically to search for comets; he started using it immediately. That same year, the Herschel brothers used the reflecting telescope to search for nebulae.

They both used the Flamsteed catalog, which was organized by constellations; Despite this, Caroline found it less useful for the system she used with her brother to search for nebulae, so she created her own catalog.

Every day they both set out to observe the sky with their telescope; With each finding, they both recorded their observations. Subsequent years, Caroline was tasked with cataloging more than 2,500 nebulae and a large number of stars.

Discovery of Messier 110

On February 26, 1783, Caroline Herschel made her first independent discovery: she found a nebula that was not in Charles Missier's catalog.

Misser 110 or also known as NGC 205, is a dwarf elliptical galaxy belonging to the Andromeda galaxy. The galaxy contains dust and clues from recent star formation.

After her discovery, her brother helped her describe the discovery in detail in 1785. William then began looking for nebulae, without success, so he decided to go to Caroline.

Comets Discovery

Between the years 1786 and 1797, he discovered eight comets; the first was on August 1, 1786. William was summoned to Windsor Castle to demonstrate the comet discovered by Caroline. William attended and recorded the phenomenon, referring to the entity as "my sister's comet."

Caroline wrote a letter to the Astronomer Royal, Sir Joseph Banks, announcing the discovery of his second comet. Then, on January 7, 1790, the third comet was discovered; subsequent months discovered the fourth.

In addition, she announced that all comets were discovered with the telescope built by her and her brother. A year later, she began to use another telescope with greater clarity with which she obtained three more comets.

On December 15, 1791, he discovered his fifth comet and on October 7, 1795, the sixth. Two years later, its eighth and last comet was discovered on August 6, 1797.

Catalogs

In 1802, the Royal Society made Caroline's catalog known in its publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the organization's scientific journal. The paper listed around 500 nebulae and star clusters in areas of polar distances.

Finally, thanks to the contribution of Caroline Herschel, the list was expanded and renamed the New General Catalog as New General Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters.

References

1. The great telescopes of William Herschel, Portal de elmundo.es, Rafael Bachiller, (2009). Taken from elmundo.es
2. Caroline Herschel, Nasa Starchild Website, (nd). Taken from nasa.gov
3. Caroline Herschel: British-German Astronomer, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2018. Taken from britannica.com
4. Kite hunter Caroline Herschel, Editors of National Geographic in Spanish, (nd). Taken from ngenspanol.com
5. Caroline Herschel, Search Biographies, (nd). Taken from Buscabiografias.com
6. Caroline Herschel: Soprano and astronomer, Portal de El País, (2016). Taken from elpais.com
7. Caroline Herschel, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org
8. Herschel and the Milky Way, Online Portal Register, (2017). Taken from ors.org