Caroline Herschel

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Standard Name: Herschel, Caroline
Used Form: Carolina Lucretia Herschel
During the later eighteenth century CH perhaps surprised herself by adding to the role of a domestic family woman those of performer and then scientist. Her writings fall into two related groups: singularly self-effacing diaries, letters, and memoirs or family history, and astronomical writings. She continued to write in these genres until decades into the nineteenth century.

Connections

Connections Sort descending Author name Excerpt
Friends, Associates Georgiana Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire
Georgiana later met the scientist Sir Charles Blagden . She is said to have acquired from him her lasting interest in chemistry and mineralogy, though she had already indicated some interest in science by visiting...
Friends, Associates Mary Somerville
In London the Somervilles enjoyed participating in a rich scientific community: Mary's time there was much happier than during her first marriage. She attended many lectures at the Royal Institution , and took lessons in...
Friends, Associates Emily Shirreff
ES 's circle of friends included Sir William Grove (inventor of the Grove battery), scientist Mary Somerville , lawyer and Royal Society president Lord Wrottesley , astronomer Sir George Biddell Airy , Sir John Herschel
Friends, Associates Anna Atkins
AA was a close friend of Sir John Herschel (another photographic pioneer) and his daughters. The idea of a female scientist was not strange to this family, since Sir John was the nephew of the...
Reception Agnes Mary Clerke
She was admitted at the same time as Lady Huggins , who wrote a tribute to her following her death.
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications, 1999–2002, 17 vols.
832
The three women who had been previously admitted into the Society were Caroline Herschel
Reception Mary Somerville
After conducting a series of trials which involved focussing sunlight on a steel needle, MS concluded (incorrectly) that the violet rays of the solar spectrum appeared to produce a magnetising effect. The paper was timely...
Reception Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville and Caroline Herschel were awarded honorary memberships by the Royal Astronomical Society (until recently called the Astronomical Society of London).
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
115
They were its first women members.
Textual Features Millicent Garrett Fawcett
Her authors run from Jane Austen and some contemporaries to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Harriet Martineau . Elizabeth Fry , Mary Carpenter , and Florence Nightingale represent philanthropy, Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville science, and...
Textual Features Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger
EOB writes in terms of a women's tradition: for instance, she praises Barbauld for praising Elizabeth Rowe . She makes confident judgements and attributions (she is sure that Lady Pakington is the real author of...
Textual Production Geraldine Jewsbury
A Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel appeared well after its subject's death and almost a century after her career in astronomy had begun, with a preface written by GJ but attributed to Mary Cornwallis Herschel
Textual Production Emma Marshall
EM also proposed to Seeley trying a shilling paper-cover book.
Marshall, Beatrice. Emma Marshall. Seeley, 1900.
206
Her first of these became The Tower on the Cliff, A Story founded on a Gloucestershire Legend, 1886, which was warmly praised by...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Agnes Mary Clerke
In The Herschels and Modern Astronomy she focuses on what she presents as the devoted and almost heroic work of William Herschel and his son Sir John . In relating the achievements of Caroline Herschel
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Adrienne Rich
The title of this volume is excerpted from American poet Charles Olson 's The Kingfishes.
Rich, Adrienne. The Will to Change. Norton, 1971.
prelims
Some of Rich's poems articulate the political meaning in personal experience, like The Burning of Paper Instead of...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Clara Balfour
She devotes a chapter to each woman of sterling qualities . . . . in the hope that studious habits, intellectual pursuits, domestic industry, and sound religious principles, may be promoted and conformed by such...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Matilda Betham-Edwards
Her selection of subjects is interesting and original. Her six are the English scholar and translator Elizabeth Carter , the Hanoverian (English by adoption) astronomer Caroline Herschel , the Dutch explorer of Africa Alexandrine Tinné

Timeline

3 November 1703: John Tipper, a schoolmaster of Coventry,...

Building item

3 November 1703

John Tipper , a schoolmaster of Coventry, wrote to Humfrey Wanley about his projected Ladies' Diary, or The Woman's Almanack.
Adburgham, Alison. Women in Print: Writing Women and Women’s Magazines from the Restoration to the Accession of Victoria. George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972.
45-52
White, Cynthia L. Women’s Magazines 1693-1968. Michael Joseph, 1970.
25
Ellis, Sir Henry, editor. Original Letters of Eminent Literary Men of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries. Camden Society, 1843.
304-14
Suarez, Michael F. “The Business of Literature: The Book Trade in England from Milton to Blake”. A Companion to Literature from Milton to Blake, edited by David Womersley, Blackwell, 2000, pp. 131-47.
144
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Brock, Claire. The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s astronomical ambition. Thriplow, 2007.
166

13 March 1781: Astronomer William Herschel discovered the...

Building item

13 March 1781

Astronomer William Herschel discovered the existence of the planet Uranus: he had already discovered several previously unknown comets, as his sister Caroline did soon afterwards.
Radford, Tim. “Light fantastic at the end of the universe”. Guardian Weekly, 1 Mar. 2000, p. 19.
19
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.

1835: Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville were...

National or international item

1835

Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville were awarded honorary memberships by the Royal Astronomical Society .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
112
Alic, Margaret. Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science. Women’s Press, 1985.
132
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
114-16, 137-9, 159-162
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
161
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
115

1835: Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville were...

National or international item

1835

Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville were awarded honorary memberships by the Royal Astronomical Society .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
112
Alic, Margaret. Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science. Women’s Press, 1985.
132
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
114-16, 137-9, 159-162
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
161
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
115

1862: Educator Anne Sheepshanks was awarded honorary...

National or international item

1862

Educator Anne Sheepshanks was awarded honorary membership in the Royal Society .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
113

Texts

Herschel, Caroline. An Account of a New Comet. John Nichols, 1787.
Herschel, Caroline. Caroline Herschel’s Autobiographies. Editor Hoskin, Michael, Science History Publications, 2003.
Herschel, Caroline. Catalogue of . . . Star-Clusters and Nebulae. 1825.
Herschel, Caroline. Catalogue of Stars. Royal Society, 1798.
Herschel, Caroline. Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel. 2nd ed., J. Murray, 1879.