WILLIAM HERSCHEL

My name is William Herschel and I was born on November 15th, 1738 in Hannover, Germany.

This is my story of how I became a professional astronomer and made discoveries that helped to explain the universe.

But it all started with music...

When I was young, I played in the band of the Hannover Guards. My early interest in music was most likely because my father was an army musician.

In 1757, when the French took over Hannover, I moved to England. There, I became a music teacher, performer, and composer.

One day while I was studying a music theory book, I stumbled across a book on optics.
From that point on, I became very interested in telescopes.

I began to make my own telescopes with the help of my sister, Caroline and my brother, Alexander who both came to live with me in England.

One night in 1781, while I was studying the sky, I found the first new planet to be discovered in centuries, Uranus.

I was awarded the Copley medal for my discovery by the Royal Society of London.

After this discovery, my friend, Dr. William Watson Jr. helped me to secure a £200 annual pension from King George III.
It was at this time that I made the decision to give up my music and devote myself to astronomy.

I was appointed the royal astronomer to King George III. I moved to Datchet, England near the Windsor Castle.
I was 43 and officially a professional astronomer.

Being an astronomer was not always easy, there were as many theories and ideas as there were astronomers! Some astronomers believed that all stars don't shine with the same brightness, but I believed that they were incorrect and that all stars shine the same way. I still don't think they knew what they were talking about.

In 1787, I moved to old Windsor, and in 1788, I moved to Slough, where I lived for the rest of my life. My sister lived with me through all this time and helped me with my observations. She was also interested in astronomy.

My sister and I studied the skies together every night. During the day, she would write up our observations, and I would work on building telescopes some of which I sold.

On May 8th, 1788, I married Mary Baldwin. We were very happy together and on March 7th, 1792, we had a son named John.

In 1789, I completed my biggest, most powerful telescope. It was 40 feet long and had two 48-inch, concave metal mirrors.
It was the largest telescope in the world for 50 years.

In 1816, I was knighted and became Sir William.

I died peacefully on August 25, 1822 at age 84.

THE END

ADDITIONAL FACTS:

• Caroline was one of the first paid women astronomers.
• John grew up to become a astronomer, mathematician, and a photographer.
• Mary was the widdow of Williams friend.