Herschel, Caroline

Caroline Herschel, in full Caroline Lucretia Herschel, (born March 16, 1750, Hannover, Hanover [Germany]—died January 9, 1848, Hannover), German-born British astronomer who was a pioneer in the field and is considered the first professional female astronomer. She made important contributions to the work of her brother Sir William Herschel, executing many of the calculations connected with his studies. On her own, she detected by telescope three nebulae in 1783, and in 1786 she became the first woman to discover a comet; over the next 11 years she spotted seven other comets.

Caroline contracted typhus at the age of 10, and the disease stunted her growth; she grew only 4 feet 3 inches (1.3 metres) tall. Her mother opposed her education, and Caroline instead helped in the management of the household. In 1772 her brother William took her to Bath, England, where he had established himself as a teacher of music. There Caroline trained and performed successfully as a singer. In addition, William tutored her in mathematics. The siblings gave their last public musical performance in 1782, when her brother accepted the private office of court astronomer to George III; the previous year William had discovered the planet Uranus.

While still keeping house for her brother, Caroline aided in his research. In addition to grinding and polishing mirrors, she began executing the laborious calculations that were connected with his observations. As her interest grew, she swept the heavens with a small Newtonian reflector and made her own observations and astronomical discoveries. In 1787 the king gave her an annual pension of £50 in her capacity as her brother’s assistant, and she thus became the world’s first professional female astronomer. The following year she discovered a periodic comet that was later named 35P/Herschel-Rigollet. In 1798 Caroline presented to the Royal Society an index to John Flamsteed’s observations, together with a catalog of 560 stars omitted from the British Catalogue and a list of the errata in that publication.

She returned to Hannover after William’s death in 1822 and soon completed the cataloging of 2,500 nebulae and many star clusters. In 1828, when she was 77, the Astronomical Society awarded her its gold medal for an unpublished revision and reorganization of their work. She lived some 20 years longer and continued to receive the respect and admiration of both scientists and the general public.