Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...217.9801w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #98.01
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
What is special about the Herschel family? It is a family that has attracted the attention of historians of science for many years and has done so for a number of reasons. Some simply marvel at the family's ability to have produced generations upon generation of great men and women of science. Others have highlighted the work of individuals within the family and how their work changed the way astronomy was done, what it was about, and then later did the same for science as a whole. The unusually high status enjoyed by Herschel women, Caroline Herschel in particular, has not escaped notice, though I will here question some of the conclusions drawn about her motivations. Most of all, however I will argue in this paper, they should be interesting to a modern audience for the way in which they managed time and again, generation on generation, to make science fashionable and popular.
In this paper I will look at three generations of this family - from William and Caroline discovering comets and planets in the late eighteenth century, through John and his claim that society needs science to be properly civilised, to John and Margaret's children and their varied takes on the relationship between astronomy, science and the public. I will look at the role astronomy played in each of their lives, how they were taught and taught each other and how in each generation they managed to make their work the talk of the town.
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