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Themes Homepage > Sir William Herschel - Astronomer > Sir William Herschel     Sir William Herschel       View larger image (Estimated download time 12 secs with a 56k modem) Brief Description: Sir William Herschel Subject Date: 1794 Owner: Slough Library Contributor: Slough Library   Full Description: Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) discovered the planet Uranus in 1781 with a self-made telescope. It was the first planet to be discovered that could not be seen with the naked eye. As a result of this discovery, William was appointed Private Astronomer to George III and moved to Datchet. He later moved to Windsor and finally to Slough where he settled in 1786 with his sister. They moved into Observatory House and William set up his 6-metre telescope in the garden and cut down all the trees. Before the telescope was finished in August 1789, the construction attracted lots of visitors. To their amusement, the tube was easy to walk through, even dressed in a bell hoop! Herschel and Slough became famous and Princes and Dukes wanted to come and see the telescope. He received a gold medal from the King of Poland and became the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society. The telescope was marked on Ordnance Survey maps, but was finally dismantled in 1839. Herschel also made numerous other instruments, like small telescopes and mirrors that were sold throughout Europe. Other discoveries that Herschel made were that the stars are not fixed, but that they move constantly towards a certain point in the universe. His telescope also showed 75 million more stars than could be seen before. The framed print was given to Slough Public Library in 1943 by decendents Sir William. The print is taken from an oil painting by M. F. Tielemann. Another digital image of this print, complete with frame, is available - ref no. sl-sl-1608_williamherschel-i-00-000.jpg   Place: Slough Dimensions: 24.2 x 17.3 cm Name Subject: Sir William Herschel ; Content Type: Print Sepia Location: Slough Library Local Ref: I1608 Unique ID: sl-sl-1608_williamherschel-i-00-001.tif       Themes Homepage > Sir William Herschel - Astronomer > Sir William Herschel

 

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