ipprose, the accumulation of what we are talking about will do it. But just the relentless, you know, what he calls sweeping the heavens for for for nebulae. The other thing that we didn't mention was his last great telescope, wi piin o. Yet a lot of his time when heis now the court astronomer, and he petitions the king for money to build what would be the largest telescope in the world. He discovered two and a half thousand nebulae - herschel ended up and herscel and carlin,. one would have to say, there definitely increased, not by an extraordinaryfactor.
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