![]() He was head of the Durham Militia band from 1760 to 1761. In "Sunderland in the County of Durh: apprill 20th 1761" he wrote his Symphony No. Herschel moved to Sunderland in 1761 when Charles Avison engaged him as first violin and soloist for his Newcastle orchestra, where he played for one season. Six of his symphonies were recorded in April 2002 by the London Mozart Players, conducted by Matthias Bamert (Chandos 10048). He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos, as well as some church music. In addition to the oboe, he played the violin and harpsichord and later the organ. In England he went by the English rendition of his name, Frederick William Herschel. Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time, was a quick student of the English language. Although his older brother Jakob had received his dismissal from the Hanoverian Guards, Wilhelm was accused of desertion (for which he was pardoned by George III in 1782). As the threat of war with France loomed, the Hanoverian Guards were recalled from England to defend Hanover.Īfter they were defeated at the Battle of Hastenbeck, Herschel's father Isaak sent his two sons to seek refuge in England in late 1757. At the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under King George II. In 1755 the Hanoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm and his brother Jakob were engaged as oboists, was ordered to England. Herschel's father was an oboist in the Hanover Military Band. Theories that they were Protestants from Bohemia have been questioned by Hamel as the surname Herschel already occurs a century earlier in the very same area that the family lived in. His forefathers came from Pirna, in Saxony. Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover in Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, one of ten children of Issak Herschel and his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, of German Lutheran ancestry. He died in August 1822, and his work was continued by his only son, John Herschel.Įarly life and musical activities He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820. Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1816. Other work included an improved determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally, the discovery of Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn). In the course of these investigations, Herschel discovered infrared radiation. Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry, using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure the wavelength distribution of stellar spectra. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes. As a result of this discovery, George III appointed him Court Astronomer. This was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity, and Herschel became famous overnight. This would, after several weeks of verification and consultation with other astronomers, be confirmed to be a new planet, eventually given the name of Uranus. ![]() On 13 March 1781 while making observations he made note of a new object in the constellation of Gemini. The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that many objects called nebulae in the Messier catalogue were actually clusters of stars. Herschel published catalogues of nebulae in 1802 (2,500 objects) and in 1820 (5,000 objects). Herschel constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent nine years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, William Herschel followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before emigrating to Great Britain in 1757 at the age of nineteen. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. First President of the Royal Astronomical Societyįrederick William Herschel KH, FRS ( / ˈ h ɜːr ʃ əl, ˈ h ɛər-/ German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer.
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