The Herschels: A Most Astronomical Family and the Transformation of Astronomy

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, professional astronomers who worked at official observatories focused on the motions of astronomical bodies. The stars were generally only of interest as they provided a background grid that helped astronomers track the motions of solar system objects. These motions were then to be interpreted in terms of Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

The astronomy pursued by William and Caroline Herschel was utterly different. In this talk, Robert Smith will explore the radically new astronomy of the Heschels, and how William abandoned his successful musical career in 1782 to become, working with his sister Caroline, that extremely rare figure in the history of astronomy, a great instrument builder, a great observer, and a great theorist.

Robert Smith received his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He is currently a Professor of History at the University of Alberta. Robert has research interests in the history of astronomy and cosmology from the late eighteenth century onwards and is especially fascinated with the history of space astronomy. He has also been a member of staff of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Robert is a winner of the History of Science Society’s Watson Davis Prize, the American Astronomical Society’s Doggett Prize for Historical Astronomy, and the Bunge Prize for researches in the history of scientific instruments.