Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 12: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great ScientistsHubbard, Elbert
Science
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 12: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists
Hubbard, Elbert
Scientists -- Biography
Herschel was forty-three years old when he discovered Uranus. He was
still a professional musician, and an amateur astronomer.
But it did not require much arguing on the part of Doctor Watson when he
presented Herschel's name for membership in the Royal Society for that
most respectable body of scholars to at once pass favorably on the
nomination. As one member in seconding the motion put it, "Herschel
honors us in accepting this membership, quite as much as we do him in
granting it."
And so the next paper presented by Herschel to the Royal Society appears
on the record signed "William Herschel, F.R.S."
Some time afterwards, it was to appear, "William Herschel, F.R.S., LL.D.
(Edinburgh)"; and then "Sir William Herschel, F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L.
(Oxon)."
* * * * *
George the Third, in about the year Seventeen Hundred Eighty-two, had
invited his distinguished Hanoverian countryman to become an attache of
the Court with the title of "Astronomer to the King." The
Astronomer-Royal, in charge of the Greenwich Observatory, was one Doctor
Maskelyne, a man of much learning, a stickler for the fact, but with a
mustard-seed imagination. Being asked his opinion of Herschel he assured
the company thus: "Herschel is a great musician--a great musician!"
Afterwards Maskelyne explained that the reason Herschel saw more than
other astronomers was because he had made himself a better telescope.
One real secret of Herschel's influence seems to have been his fine
enthusiasm. He worked with such vim, such animation, that he radiated
light on every side. He set others to work, and his love for astronomy
as a science created a demand for telescopes, which he himself had to
supply. It does not seem that he cared especially for money--all he made
he spent for new apparatus. He had a force of about a dozen men making
telescopes. He worked with them in blouse and overalls, and not one of
his workmen excelled him as a machinist. The King bought several of his
telescopes for from one hundred to three hundred pounds each, and
presented them to universities and learned societies throughout the
world. One fine telescope was presented to the University of Gottingen,
and Herschel was sent in person to present it. He was received with the
greatest honors, and scientists and musicians vied with one another to
do him homage.
In Seventeen Hundred Eighty-two Herschel and his sister gave up their
musical work and moved from Bath to quarters provided for them near
Windsor Castle. Herschel's salary was then the modest sum of two hundred
pounds a year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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