"The Herschels and Modern Astronomy" by Agnes M. Clerke. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
Оглавление
Agnes M. Clerke. The Herschels and Modern Astronomy
The Herschels and Modern Astronomy
Table of Contents
PREFACE
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Herschels. AND. MODERN ASTRONOMY
CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE OF WILLIAM HERSCHEL
CHAPTER II. THE KING’S ASTRONOMER
CHAPTER III. THE EXPLORER OF THE HEAVENS
CHAPTER IV. HERSCHEL’S SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER V. THE INFLUENCE OF HERSCHEL’S CAREER ON MODERN ASTRONOMY
CHAPTER VI. CAROLINE HERSCHEL
CHAPTER VII. SIR JOHN HERSCHEL AT CAMBRIDGE AND SLOUGH
CHAPTER VIII. EXPEDITION TO THE CAPE
CHAPTER IX. LIFE AT COLLINGWOOD
CHAPTER X. WRITINGS AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS
INDEX
Отрывок из книги
Agnes M. Clerke
Published by Good Press, 2021
.....
In 1776 William Herschel succeeded Thomas Linley, Sheridan’s father-in-law, as Director of the Public Concerts at Bath. His duties in this capacity, while the season lasted, were most onerous. He had to engage performers, to appease discontents, to supply casual failures, to write glees and catches expressly adapted to the voices of his executants, frequently to come forward himself as a soloist on the hautboy or the harpsichord. The services of his brother Alexander, a renowned violoncellist, and of his sister, by this time an excellent singer, were now invaluable to him. Nor for musical purposes solely. The vision of the skies was never lost sight of, and the struggle to realise it in conjunction with his sympathetic helpers absorbed every remnant of time. At meals the only topics of conversation were mechanical devices for improving success and averting failure. William ate with a pencil in his hand, and a project in his head. Between the acts at the theatre, he might be seen running from the harpsichord to his telescope. After a rehearsal or a morning performance, he would dash off to the workshop in periwig and lace ruffles, and leave it but too often with those delicate adjuncts to his attire torn and pitch-bespattered. Accidents, too, menacing life and limb, were a consequence of that “uncommon precipitancy which accompanied all his actions;” but he escaped intact, save for the loss of a finger-nail.
His introduction to the learned world of Bath was thus described by himself:—
