melvourne: What did you feel that you would like to have said that you didn't feel you had time to say? One thing we didn't discuss a men ovs. We've talked about the the grand scheme of william's interests in the the cosmos, beyond the solar system. He discovered two moons of uranus, and not just the planet, but also two moons. And he was also intrigued by mars. Er he showed that mars rotated around axis inclined 25 degrees from the vertical. That an angle ais very similar to earth, and that therefore it would have comparable seasons to seasons on earth. I mean, of ae lasting twice as long, cause the
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Herschel (1738 – 1822) and his sister Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) who were born in Hanover and made their reputation in Britain. William was one of the most eminent astronomers in British history. Although he started life as a musician, as a young man he became interested in studying the night sky. With an extraordinary talent, he constructed telescopes that were able to see further and more clearly than any others at the time. He is most celebrated today for discovering the planet Uranus and detecting what came to be known as infrared radiation. Caroline also became a distinguished astronomer, discovering several comets and collaborating with her brother.
With
Monica Grady
Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University
Carolin Crawford
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
And
Jim Bennett
Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum in London.
Studio producer: John Goudie