William and Caroline Herschel Pioneers in Late 18th-Century Astronom
This beautifully structured book presents the essentials of William and Caroline Herschel’s pioneering achievements in late 18th-century astronomy. Michael Hoskin shows that William Herschel was the first observational cosmologist and one of the first obs
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Michael Hoskin
William and Caroline Herschel Pioneers in Late 18th-Century Astronomy 123
SpringerBriefs in Astronomy
Series Editors Martin Ratcliffe Wolfgang Hillebrandt
For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10090
Michael Hoskin
William and Caroline Herschel Pioneers in Late 18th-Century Astronomy
123
Michael Hoskin Churchill College University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
ISSN 2191-9100 ISBN 978-94-007-6874-1 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6875-8
ISSN 2191-9119 (electronic) ISBN 978-94-007-6875-8 (eBook)
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013939048 The Author(s) 2014 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Foreword
When John Keats wrote, ‘‘Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken’’, his literary allusion was to William Herschel, musician, composer, and conductor, who in 1781 discovered the planet that would be named Uranus. Herschel, who as an amateur astronomer had built the finest telescope then available, did what no other person alive could have done: he recognized something unusual when a peculiar bluish object with a distinct disk swam into his ken. No other person would have noticed it because his was the only telescope precise enough to show
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