Page:Hector Macpherson - Herschel (1919).djvu/74

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HERSCHEL

respects, the sequel to, and completion of, that of his father. John Frederick William Herschel, born "within the shadow of the great telescope," on 7th March, 1792, was educated at Hitcham, Eton and Cambridge. At the University he was a distinguished student, particularly in mathematics, and graduated as Senior Wrangler in 1813. He was in no hurry to choose his life-work, nor was there any need. Since his father's marriage, the family had been in easy, if not affluent circumstances. His father had destined him for the Church, but he preferred the study of law. He never practised at the Bar, however, and at last decided for a scientific career. In 1816 he informed a correspondent that he was "going under his father's directions to take up star-gazing". He had at first no definite inclination in that direction, but he decided to complete his father's work. During his father's lifetime, he re-examined many binary stars, in conjunction with Sir James South, and for these observations he received the Lalande Prize of the French Academy and the Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society.

In 1828 he succeeded in rediscovering the genuine satellites of Uranus, and in the same year commenced his review of his father's nebulæ and star-clusters. The completion of this work was signalised by knighthood. Then, in 1833, after his mother's death, he decided to extend his father's surveys to the southern hemisphere. He transported his great telescope to Cape Colony, and at Feldhausen, near Cape Town, from 1834 to 1838, he swept the southern skies, cataloguing double stars, clusters and nebulæ; and after nine years of arduous labour, the monumental volume known as "Results of Astronomical Observations at the Cape of Good Hope" was published. Meanwhile, honours were showered thick and fast upon the astronomer; he was created a baronet after his return from South Africa, many degrees were conferred upon him, and learned societies