Six planets were known to the ancients: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. It
wasn’t until 1781, during the Age of Enlightenment, the age of the “gentleman scientist,”
that the seventh planet was discovered.
Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German musician who fled French-occupied Hanover during the
Seven Years’ War. He made a new life in England, settling in Bath where he was appointed
a church organist, a respected position. He changed his name to William,
a proper English name.
In 1773, at the age of 35, Herschel took up the gentlemanly pursuit of science. He acquired
a copy of James Ferguson’s book “Astronomy,” and Robert Smith’s “Opticks.” Eager
to apply what he had learned from these texts, Herschel began constructing special reflecting
mirrors and soon had made one of the most powerful telescopes of its day. With it, he
was able to view the heavens with great clarity. Herschel, with the assistance of his sister
Caroline, undertook a survey of the night sky, paying special attention to double stars.
On March 13, 1781, Herschel took a closer look at what was assumed to be a faint star.
It had been previously catalogued by other astronomers as 34 Tauri, the 34th star of
Taurus, the Bull. Through his powerful telescope, however, Herschel observed it with fresh eyes.
In his notes he wrote “In the quartile near Zeta Tauri ... either [a] nebulous star or
perhaps a comet.” Four days later, on March 17, 1781, he wrote “I looked for the Comet
or Nebulous Star and found that it is a Comet, for it has changed its place. ”
Herschel had discovered a new heavenly body that moved. It turned out not to be a comet,
but a PLANET, the first to be discovered since prehistoric times. It was twice as far away
from the sun as Saturn. Overnight, Herschel had doubled the size of the known solar system.
Herschel wanted to name his find “Georgium Sidus”, Latin for “Georgian star” after
King George III of England. Cooler heads prevailed, and the name Uranus was settled upon, which
followed the tradition of naming planets after Greek and Roman Gods.
Uranus was the Greek God of the Sky.
As news of his discovery spread, Herschel became famous overnight, and he was appointed
by George III as the Royal Astronomer. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,
and was awarded grants to continue his work and build more telescopes.
Herschel went on to discover two of the moons orbiting Uranus. His son John named them Oberon
and Titania after the King and Queen of the fairies in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. Most of the moons of Uranus discovered later were also named after Shakespearean
characters (Juliet, Miranda, etc.)
Herschel was knighted in 1816 for his invaluable contributions to science. His discovery of
Uranus shattered the notion that the ancients had discovered everything in the solar system.
Herschel’s work ushered in a new era of astronomy - one in which momentous discoveries
were still possible.
The universe is a pretty big place, and so is that subscribe button.
I’m not going to tell you to click it, because I’m certain you’ll do the right thing……
The right thing is to click the button.