Caroline Herschel was the first female astronomer, but she still lacks name recognition two centuries later
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Tuesday, August 22, 2023
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Caroline Herschel, the first professional female astronomer, made contributions to astronomy that are still important to the field today.
Key Points:
- Caroline Herschel, the first professional female astronomer, made contributions to astronomy that are still important to the field today.
- Her story reflects not only the priorities of astronomy but also how credit is assigned in the field.
Her path to astronomy
- She was forced to complete household chores, despite showing a keen interest in learning from a young age.
- She eventually escaped her family to follow her older brother William Herschel, whom she adored, to Bath.
- She didn’t become interested in astronomy until William was already thoroughly engrossed in the subject.
- Although she spoke somewhat disparagingly about how she followed her brother to different interests, including music and astronomy, Caroline eventually acknowledged her real interest in studying astronomical bodies.
Searching the skies
- On Aug. 1, 1782, she discovered a comet – meaning she was the first to see it in a telescope with her own eyes.
- For all of her other work, like recording and organizing all the data from William’s observations, she received less credit than William.
- For instance, when Caroline took all of William’s observations and compiled them into a catalog, it was published under William’s name.
- The Herschels also created the first – though not quite correct – map of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Who gets the credit in astronomy?
- In fact, most of the astronomers who receive credit today are those whose work looks a lot like Caroline’s – recording and organizing data about astronomical observations.
- Astronomers seldom put their eyeballs up to a telescope eyepiece anymore, and many of the most important discoveries are made by telescopes in space.
- Some of the lack of recognition is probably because her brother received all the credit for her catalog.
- Acknowledging the contributions of astronomers like Caroline Herschel is a small step toward giving credit where credit is due.