Michael Hoskin - Discoverers of the Universe: William and Caroline Herschel

The published works of William Herschel, with one minor exception, appeared in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions. They were assembled, together with the text of the many unpublished papers that William read to the Bath Philosophical Society, by the indefatigable J. L. E. Dreyer and published in two quarto volumes with the title The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel (London, 1912). Dreyer supplies a lengthy introduction that is all the more valuable in being by an experienced astronomical observer and skilled historian who had privileged access to Herschel manuscripts.

The bulk of the scientific manuscripts of William, Caroline, and John were donated to the Royal Astronomical Society, which has made the entire collection available worldwide in the form of inexpensive CDs and DVDs. Other important holdings, especially of the papers of John, are in the library of the Royal Society. Unfortunately other family papers, mostly of secondary interest, were dispersed at auction in 1958, but microfilms of those exported from the United Kingdom are in the British Library. A small number of papers remain with the family, who are most generous in allowing access to them.

Caroline's diaries and letters are extensively cited in Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, by Mrs. John Herschel, 2nd ed. (London, 1879). A granddaughter of William also drew extensively on family papers for her admirable The Herschel Chronicle: The Life-story of William Herschel and his Sister Caroline Herschel, ed. Constance A. Lubbock (Cambridge, 1933); this has been reprinted by the William Herschel Society, Bath, UK. Lady Lubbock was elderly when she compiled her book, and the editor of Cambridge University Press was ruthless with it, omitting extensive sections. Fortunately the original typescript is in the possession of the William Herschel Society.

Caroline wrote two autobiographies, the second when she was in her nineties. Both are incomplete but they are invaluable sources for both her life and William's: Caroline Herschel's Autobiographies, ed. Michael Hoskin (Cambridge, 2003).

There are many popular and semipopular discussions of William and Caroline's lives and scientific work, but William Herschel: Explorer of the Heavens, by J. B. Sidgwick (London, 1953) retains its value. The inquirer after specific aspects of William's work will do well to start with Angus Armitage's methodical William Herschel (London, 1962).

The authoritative account of William's work as a telescope builder is J. A. Bennett, 'On the Power of Penetrating into Space': The Telescopes of William Herschel, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 7 (1976), 75108. William's principal theoretical papers in astronomy are reprinted with discussion in William Herschel and the Construction of the Heavens, by Michael A. Hoskin (London, 1963). An account of the partnership between William and Caroline is The Herschel Partnership: As Viewed by Caroline, by Michael Hoskin (Cambridge, 2003). For biographical essays on William's and Caroline's parents, and on each of their siblings, see The Herschels of Hanover, by Michael Hoskin (Cambridge, 2007).

An exhaustive analysis of the nebulae catalogues of William and John Herschel is to be found in Wolfgang Steinicke, Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Clusters: From Herschel to Dreyer's New General Catalogue (Cambridge, 2010).