The Herschel Family

Sir William Herschel was the first of the influential Herschel family to become involved in astronomy. His sister Caroline Lucretia and his son Sir John Frederick William also got involved in different aspects of astronomy. Sir William Herschel was born in 1738 as Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel. He was born in Hanover, Germany. His father was a musician, which led to William becoming skilled on several instruments at a young age. He became a band boy in …showed first 75 words of 854 total…

…showed last 75 words of 854 total…catalog. He traveled to the Cape of Good Hope in 1834 and discovered many more star clusters and nebulae in the southern skies. He wrote books on astronomy entitled Outlines of Astronomy, published in 1849, and A General Catalog of Nebulas, published in 1864. Sir John also contributed to the field of photography. He was the first to use the terms “positive image” and “negative image”, he also introduced sodium thiosulfate as a fixing agent. He died in 1871.