Herschel

Herschel, family of British astronomers of German origin. Sir Frederick William Herschel (1738–1822) built reflecting telescopes, discovered Ura-nis (1781), showed the sun's motion on space (1783), discovered the relative orbital motion of double stars (1793), and studied nebulae. His sister, Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1750–1848), discovered eight comets. His son Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871) published a catalog of nebulae and clusters, first used sodium thiosulfate as a photographic fixer, and studied polarized light.

See also: Astronomy.