Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Articles

John Herschel

Toni Vogel Carey on a memorable but forgotten scientist and philosopher.

If the name Herschel rings a bell, you are probably thinking of William (1738-1822), who discovered the planet Uranus in 1781, and catapulted to fame. A poor oboist from Hanover, he worked his way to some prominence in the English music world; but for him, the world revolved around his starry avocation. In this he was tirelessly assisted by his remarkable sister Caroline, who doubled as his soprano soloist, and who is credited with discovering at least five comets herself.

William married very late and had only one child, John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871), who inherited all the Herschel talents, and their modesty as well. In 1813 John graduated ‘Senior Wrangler’ in mathematics from Cambridge, which made him a figure of awe there, and a natural candidate for the Lucasian professorship, made famous by Isaac Newton, and lately by Stephen Hawking.

…