Born in 1750, Caroline Herschel worked as assistant to her astronomer brother William. But she also made her own discoveries of nebulae, stars & 8(!) comets.
In 1787, King George III employed Caroline as her brother's assistant, including a small salary that made her one of the first women paid for their contributions to #science.
Caroline submitted over 550 stars to the existing star catalog & received honorary membership in the Royal Society. https://www.space.com/17439-caroline-herschel.html #history
Caroline Herschel Biography
Caroline Herschel was the first woman to discover a comet. She made several contributions to the field of astronomyNola Taylor Tillman (Space)
ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •( I don't think it's her).
Donovan Young
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •I read about her in the book The Age of Wonder by Holmes. Polishing the mirrors was a torturous affair where constant pressure and fluid movement had to be maintained for hours at a time. Apparently one had to relieve oneself in situ.
Adrienne Rich write a great poem about her. Jocelyn Bell used to read it at some of her talks. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46568/planetarium-56d2267df376c
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Wonder
book by Richard Holmes
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Markus Feilner :verified:
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •