William Herschel's garden. // Credit: David J. Eicher
On
Astronomy’s
August tour of London, some 25 readers and I had the great pleasure of seeing many important astronomical sites in England.
One of the videos I shot shows a walk-through the celebrated garden of William Herschel in Bath, England. This is where Herschel set up his telescope and discovered the planet Uranus in March 1781. The house is now known as the Herschel Museum of Astronomy and is located at 19 New King Street. The Herschels lived in the house during two periods, from 1777 to 1779 and from 1781 to 1784.
As you may know, the German-English musician-turned-astronomer Herschel (1738–1822) was one of the greats of all time. His sister, Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), assisted in his astronomical work and became an accomplished astronomer and comet discoverer in her own right. Herschel’s son, John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871), became an accomplished astronomer too, as well as a polymath, involved in photography, chemistry, botany, and other fields. Enjoy!