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“A bright, shiny gift to popular-science collections.”—BooklistTrained as a musician, amateur scientist William Herschel found international fame after discovering the planet Uranus in 1781. Though he is still best known for this finding, his partnership with his sister Caroline yielded other groundbreaking work that affects how we see the world today. The Herschels made comprehensive surveys of the night sky, carefully categorizing every visible object in the void. Caroline wrote an influential catalogue of nebulae, and William discovered infrared radiation. Veteran science writer Michael D. Lemonick guides readers through the depths of the solar system and into his subjects’ private lives: William developed bizarre theories about inhabitants of the sun; he procured an unheard-of salary for Caroline from King George III even as he hassled over the funding for an enormous, forty-foot telescope; and the siblings feuded over William’s marriage but eventually reconciled. 9 illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Two commoners who brought the celestial heavens down to Earth
The title of this latest publication in the Great Discoveries series of books aptly describes the content of this neat paperback. At the time of the American Revolution, a German musician seeking a better opportunity transferred to England and thence became obsessed with the celestial patterns. An autodidact, William Herschel picked up English, Latin, Greek, mathematics and then turned to studying the skies. To better view the cosmos, he designed and built his own telescopes.

Among his discoveries were the planets Uranus and Saturn, and their associated moons along with assorted nebulae. Uranus was named the Georgian Star in honor of King George III, who prior to succumbing to his genetic malady, was impressed by the discoveries and served as patron to this brilliant cosmologist.

Shining alongside her star struck brother was younger sister Caroline, who not only assisted in the star sightings, but herself became so fascinated in the study that independently she sighted and is credited with comet recognition and recording galactic changes.

This is truly a fascinating chronicle of a gifted musical family in the late 1700s whose findings are now being corroborated in our technological age. It is an inspiring story not only from the celestial view, but it serves as a reflection of the social and historical customs of the times, and also gives insights into the nature of the human character.

Reviewed by Rita Hoots

Got me hooked on deeper research
As an amateur astronomer, I've always admired Herschel as sort of the model of our hobby: A skilled professional in another field (you can find recordings of his musical compositions on Amazon, too) who made major contributions to the field. What's clear here is the role his kid sister Caroline played in making it all possible. I'm glad to see that she's starting to get the attention she deserves next to her brother.

The Georgian Star, by Michael Lemonick
The Georgian Star, by Michael Lemonick, is the biography of William Herschel and his sister Caroline Herschel.In 1781, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.As Lemonick points out, this made Herschel the first discoverer of a planet, since Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn had been visible and known to anyone who cared to look up at the night sky for all of human history.

Herschel became more and more interested in astronomy.He bought books on the subject, studied the heavens through telescopes, and began making his own telescopes.With Caroline's help, he began spending every free minute, day and night, on astronomy.He invented the technique of making repeated sweeps of the entire night sky, cataloguing everything he found.In the midst of it all, he came upon the new planet.We call this planet Uranus, but at the time, Herschel's science colleagues urged him to name the planet for King George III.In this way, Herschel earned the King's favor and was freed at last from having to make a living with music.

Throughout The Georgian Star, Mike Lemonick quotes from Caroline Herschel's wry, humorous diary about her brother's frenetic days and nights, and about her own award-winning contributions.William Herschel discovered more than 2000 nebulae, hundreds of paired stars, and infra-red radiation.He tracked the direction of the migration of our Solar System through the Milky Way, and realized that starlight we presently see has taken so long to reach us, the stars whose light it is might well have burned out by now.

The Georgian Star combines science, history, and human interest so beautifully, we are sorry to come to the end of the book

Fascinating...
The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Cosmos by Michael D. Lemonick is a fascinating look at two astronomers who are little known but have made tremendous contributions to our understanding of astronomy.

In the 1700s, William and Caroline Herschel were born into a Germany family of talented musicians.William ended up in England (easy to do as George III of England was also the Elector of Hanover). He then smuggled his sister over when their mother refused to let her leave Germany (mother Anna did not want to lose Caroline's domestic services).Both siblings were professional musicians.Caroline was a singer, while William served as organist, choir master, composer and instrumentalist in various English churches.But both William and Caroline became fascinated by astronomy and began on a course to study the cosmos.In addition, he began building his own telescopes--which happened to be much stronger than those being used by professionals.William wasn't taken very seriously at first, but eventually earned the respect of professional scientists of the day.He was even awarded a pension by George III, which allowed him to quit music forever and focus all his energies on stargazing.

During his long life, William made many discoveries--including the planet, Uranus, as well as the existence of infrared radiation.His sister also made a number of discoveries (mostly comets) but was especially talented in organizing and cataloguing "all of the 2500 nebulae and star clusters she and William had discovered."Her efforts also earned her a pension from the king.

I find the study of astronomy fascinating, although if it gets too technical, my eyes begin to glaze over.The Georgian Star was the perfect book in explaining much about our knowledge of astronomy, but in an understandable way.Lemonick also explains how the work done by both William and Caroline is still relevant today.

excellent book
Fast delivery and excellent customer service (when I made a mistake on shipping - it was handled with exceptional customer service on Amazon's end) I have been shopping from Amazon for over 3 years and highly recommend them. This book also very insightful and good reading ... Read more

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Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876) contains the letters and diaries of the celebrated astronomer Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), edited by her niece, Mary Herschel. Caroline was born in Hanover to a musician father and an illiterate mother who did not want her daughter to be educated. However Caroline's brother William, an organist employed in Bath, persuaded their mother to allow Caroline to join him there. She left for England in 1772 to live with William, to whom she remained devoted all of her life. In Bath, William turned towards telescope-making and astronomy, to such effect that in 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus. He was appointed 'the King's astronomer' in 1782, and Caroline, trained by William, continued to work at his side as a scientist in her own right. Between them, they discovered eight comets and raised the number of recorded nebulae from a hundred to 2500. ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: J. Murray in 1879 in 390 pages; Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology; Juvenile Nonfiction / Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology; Science / Astronomy; Science / History; Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory; Social Science / Women's Studies; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Definitive
Actually the author's name is incorrect.The correct author is "Mrs. John Herschel" (that is, John Herschel's wife).Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, in 1876.

This is the definitive source book for information about William Herschel's life (Caroline was his sister), but good luck finding a copy, it's very rare. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 620 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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Chapters: William Herschel, Tracey Ullman, John Herschel, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Caroline Herschel, Anthony Meyer, Simon Kernick, Marian Mcpartland, Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway, Adrian Hilton, Fiona Mactaggart, Fiona May, Viv Busby, Luke O'neill, Sam Hutchinson, Alan Knill, Mark Brzezicki, Spencer Livermore, Eva Crane, Montagu Dawson, William James Herschel, Kurtney Brooks, Benn Levy, Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles, Lydia Simmons, Martyn Busby, Ralph Miller, Sheila Forbes, Rob Matthews, Naema Tahir, Peter Angell, Shaun Thompson, John Arthur Watts, Alan Wilks, Robert Oulds. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 149. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: 1988 The Tracey Ullman ShowOutstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program1990 The Tracey Ullman ShowOutstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program1990 Best of The Tracey Ullman Show1994 Tracey Takes On New YorkOutstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series1992 Love ... Read more

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A study of mary Lamb, Dorothy Wordsworth, Caroline Herschel, and Cassandrs Austen ... Read more

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Publisher: T. NelsonPublication date: 1878Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World of Earth Science, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 335 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.A comprehensive guide to the concepts, theories, discoveries, pioneers, and issues relating to topics in earth science. Its encyclopedic approach offers entries that are written in easy to understand language. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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"The Comet Sweeper" is the incredible story of Britain's first female professional scientist, Caroline Herschel - a true Enlightenment celebrity whose rediscovery is long overdue. Such was Herschel's reputation that a congratulatory letter in 1790 from the director of the Paris Observatory was simply addressed to 'Mlle Caroline Herschel, Astronome Celebre, Slough.' Having escaped domestic servitude in Germany by teaching herself to sing and establishing a career in England, Herschel learned astronomy while helping her brother William, then Astronomer Royal. Soon she was making scientific discoveries in her own right, and she swept to international scientific and popular fame. She was awarded a salary by George III in 1787, becoming the first woman in Britain ever to make her living from science. But, as a woman in a male-dominated world, Herschel's great success was achieved despite constant frustration of her ambitions. Assisting her brother had to take priority over her own work, and his marriage separated her from the instruments of her trade, stalling her career.Drawing on original sources - including Herschel's diaries and her fiery letters - Claire Brock tells the story of a woman so determined to win independence and satisfy her ambition that she moved careers and countries while chasing success. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Thorough and Well Balanced Biography
Caroline Herschel is a fascinating scientific pioneer as well as the overshadowed runt of a litter of German musical/military children, and this biography presents plenty of documentary evidence to back up its assertions. It is accurately and admirably researched from the source material, fascinating to read and easy to digest.

The book is easy to read in one sitting, despite its size and heft. The paper is so thick and the margins are so large that a condensed edition would be more appropriate.

A concise biography of Caroline Herschel, but biased?
This book can be credited for giving a well-paced review of the life of Caroline Herschel, and her career in both music and astronomy.

However, having read other books about Caroline Herschel, including her Memoirs and from a book "The Herschel Chronicles" written by William's granddaughter, my own interpretation of Caroline is different from that of Claire Brock's.

Brock's Caroline Herschel is bitter and resentful towards people around her. Brock's CH suffers from cynical manipulation and restrictions while living at home with her mother in Hanover Germany, and also while living in England with her brother William.

I find from the non-Brock readings a different Caroline. I find a woman whose early life in Hanover certainly did feature restrictions upon what she may learn and do, but that such was not the case while she lived in England.

To my mind, it appears an odd assertion from Brock that one member of the greatest astronomical team in history should feel so bitter and resentful towards her research partner.

Indeed one can find in Caroline's Memoirs statements of tremendous admiration towards her brother: both his industrious nature, and his accomplishments.

In summary, the Brock book is sufficient for a concise account of Caroline Herschel's life. However, it would appear that Brock has a political axe to grind, attempting to portray her subject as someone mistreated by every person she met.

Unhappily, Brock's bias serves to undermine what is otherwise a good biography of the brilliant astronomer, Caroline Herschel. ... Read more