The Quiet Revolution Of Caroline Herschel: The Lost Heroine Of Astronomy
by Dr Emily Winterburn /
2018 / English / EPUB
6.9 MB Download
Caroline Herschel chronicled both her private life and her life
in science in a series of diaries and autobiographies which she
kept for family members. She also kept notebooks and observation
notes. Yet in 1788, the year of her brother’s marriage, all
diaries and journals ceased. As a result, we have almost no
record of the decade in which, ironically, she made her most
influential mark on science, in which she discovered eight comets
and became the first woman to have a paper read at the Royal
Society. She destroyed all of her notebooks and diaries from this
time, and her notes only resume in 1797, leaving us to piece
together these lost 10 years of one of the most influential women
of science. Here, for the first time, physicist Emily Winterburn
looks deep into Caroline’s life and wonders why, in the year
following the marriage of her brother and constant companion,
Caroline wanted no record of her life to remain. Was she consumed
with grief and jealousy? By piecing together—from letters,
reminiscences, and sometimes museum objects—a detailed account of
that time, we get to see a new side to Caroline and the story of
10 extraordinary years.
Caroline Herschel chronicled both her private life and her life
in science in a series of diaries and autobiographies which she
kept for family members. She also kept notebooks and observation
notes. Yet in 1788, the year of her brother’s marriage, all
diaries and journals ceased. As a result, we have almost no
record of the decade in which, ironically, she made her most
influential mark on science, in which she discovered eight comets
and became the first woman to have a paper read at the Royal
Society. She destroyed all of her notebooks and diaries from this
time, and her notes only resume in 1797, leaving us to piece
together these lost 10 years of one of the most influential women
of science. Here, for the first time, physicist Emily Winterburn
looks deep into Caroline’s life and wonders why, in the year
following the marriage of her brother and constant companion,
Caroline wanted no record of her life to remain. Was she consumed
with grief and jealousy? By piecing together—from letters,
reminiscences, and sometimes museum objects—a detailed account of
that time, we get to see a new side to Caroline and the story of
10 extraordinary years.
