biography
| name: |
Herschel, Sir John Frederick William
|
pronunciation:
[hershl]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1792–1871)
|
| biography:
| Astronomer, born in Slough, S England, UK, the son of Sir William Herschel. He studied at Cambridge, and joined with Charles Babbage to found the Analytical Society (1812), introducing Leibniz notation into English mathematics to replace the cumbersome Newtonian symbols. He continued and augmented his father's researches, and spent four years in South Africa to chart the S hemisphere stars (1834–8). He pioneered celestial photography, carried out research on photo-active chemicals and the wave theory of light, and translated from Johann Schiller and the Iliad. He was also Master of the Mint (1851–6). |
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