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Caroline Herschel
Caroline Herschel
Born	16 March 1750(1750-03-16) Hanover, Germany
Died	9 January 1848 (aged 97) Hanover, Germany
Nationality	German 1750-? English ?-1848
Field	astronomer

Caroline Herschel shortly before her death in 1848 at the age of 97

Caroline Lucretia Herschel (March 16, 1750 – January 9, 1848) was a German-born English astronomer who worked with her brother, Sir William Herschel. Her most significant contribution to astronomy was the discovery of several comets and in particular the periodic comet 35P/Herschel-Rigollet, which bears her name.

Herschel was born in Hanover. In the autumn of 1772, she joined her brother William in England, where he had established himself as a teacher of music at 19 New King Street, Bath, Somerset (now the Herschel Museum of Astronomy). She co-operated with him both in his professional duties and in the astronomical research to which he had already begun to devote all his spare time. She was the principal singer at his oratorio concerts, and acquired such a reputation as a vocalist that she was offered an engagement for the Birmingham festival; however, she declined.

In 1782, her brother accepted the office of astronomer to George III and moved to Datchet and subsequently to Observatory House near Slough, Berkshire. Caroline was his constant assistant in his observations, also executing the laborious calculations with which they were connected. Her chief amusement during her leisure hours was sweeping the heavens with a small Newtonian telescope. By this means she detected in 1783 three remarkable nebulae and, during the eleven years from 1786 to 1797, eight comets, five with unquestioned priority — among them Comet Encke. Her first comet, discovered on August 1, 1786, was the first to be discovered by a woman,^{[verification needed]} and won her recognition.^[clarify] The following year she began to receive an annual salary from George III for her work as William's assistant, which made her the first woman officially recognised for a scientific position.^{[citation needed]} In 1797 she presented to the Royal Society an Index to Flamsteed's observations, together with a catalogue of 561 stars accidentally omitted from the British Catalogue, and a list of the errata in that publication.^{[citation needed]}

Caroline returned to Hanover in 1822 after the death of her brother, but did not abandon her astronomical studies, continuing to verify and confirm her brother's findings. In 1828 the Royal Astronomical Society presented her with their Gold Medal - no woman would be awarded it again until Vera Rubin in 1996 - and in 1835 the society elected her as an honorary member. In 1846, she received a gold medal from the King of Prussia.^[clarify]

The asteroid 281 Lucretia was named after Caroline's second given name; C. Herschel crater in the Sinus Iridium on the Moon was also named in her honour.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel's Astronomical Ambition by Claire Brock publ.: Icon Books Ltd 2007 ISBN-10: 1840467207

• O'Connor, John J; Edmund F. Robertson "Caroline Herschel". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.  
• FemBiography Caroline Herschel
• Caroline Herschel Biography, SEDS
• Caroline Herschel's Deepsky Objects, SEDS
• Herschel Museum of Astronomy

• MNRAS 8 (1848) 64