John Herschel summary

Learn about the life and contributions of astronomer John Herschel

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Sir John Herschel, 1st Baronet.

John Herschel, in full Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet, (born March 7, 1792, Slough, Buckinghamshire, Eng.—died May 11, 1871, Collingwood, Kent), English astronomer. He was the son of astronomer William Herschel. He studied at the University of Cambridge, where he met mathematicians Charles Babbage and George Peacock. In 1812 they founded the Analytical Society of Cambridge to introduce Continental methods of mathematical calculus into English practice. He was among the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820. In 1833 he set sail for the Cape of Good Hope, where he observed the Southern sky until 1838; he recorded the locations of 68,948 stars and amassed long catalogs of nebulae and double stars. He was the first person to apply the now well-known terms positive and negative to photographic images.

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