Astronomy Becomes Science

In 1610, Galileo pointed the first telescope at the night sky and started a revolution in astronomy. Caroline Herschel furthered that revolution through a lifetime spent helping her brother William build bigger and better telescopes. And, by establishing a regular, systematic schedule of observing the night sky and carefully recording all data, Caroline changed the very nature of observational astronomy.

 

 

 

Her fame will be held
in honour through all ages.
French astronomer Pierre-Francois-Andre Mechain

 

Fourteen-year-old Caroline Herschel stood on tiptoe and peeked out the window into the courtyard below. She wished she could be down there with her father and her brother William. Her mother had given her a long list of chores to do this morning. She hoped she could finish in time.

   Caroline watched as Papa and Willie helped some of the younger Herschel boys fill a large tub with water. Today Hanover, Germany, the city where the Herschels lived, would see a total eclipse of the Sun. For several minutes the Moon would be directly between the Earth and Sun. The Sun would vanish completely, except for a glowing halo. People who stared directly at the eclipse would hurt their eyes. Papa and William had a clever plan, however. Using the big tub as a reflecting pool, the family could safely watch the eclipse reflected in the water.

   Earlier this morning, as she helped Mama serve breakfast, Caroline had taken a deep breath. Then, she had asked for permission to watch the eclipse with the family. Mama hadn’t said no yet, but she hadn’t said yes, either. Her mother, like many people at that time, didn’t think girls needed to know about comets and eclipses. Girls just needed to know how to cook and clean. But today, Mama was in a good mood. Her oldest son, William, was back home in Germany after seven long years away in England.   When Caroline heard Mama calling her, she sighed, left the window, and hurried up the stairs to finish cleaning. She did not want to make her mother angry today.

   Caroline had had a difficult childhood. She was the eighth of ten children born to the unhappy marriage of Anna and Isaac Herschel. Anna and Isaac disagreed about many things. Most importantly for Caroline, they disagreed about education. Isaac was a talented musician and an enthusiastic amateur astronomer who valued education highly. Anna could not read or write. Worse, she believed educating children simply caused trouble. She grudgingly allowed Isaac to educate their sons, but would not let him teach Caroline more than reading and writing.