The Comet Sweeper (Icon Science): Caroline Herschel's Astronomical Ambition

by Claire Brock

Overview

Having escaped domestic servitude in Germany by teaching herself to sing, and established a career in England, Caroline Herschel learned astronomy while helping her brother William, then Astronomer Royal.



Soon making scientific discoveries in her own right, she swept to international scientific and popular fame. She was awarded a salary by George III in 1787 - the first woman in Britain to make her living from science.



But, as a woman in a male-dominated world, Herschel's great success was achieved despite constant frustration of her ambitions. Drawing on original sources - including Herschel's diaries and her fiery letters - Claire Brock tells the story of a woman determined to win independence and satisfy her astronomical ambition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785781667
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	01/05/2017
Series:	Icon Science
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.76(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Claire Brockis Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Leicester. She was awarded the British Society for the History of Science's Singer Prize for an article on the Victorian scientist and writer Mary Somerville. Dr Brock was recently awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Leave Award (2012-2014).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements x

Introduction Astronomical ambition 1

Chapter I Early life 13

Chapter II Escape to Bath 61

Chapter III From stage ornament to celebrated female astronomer 109

Chapter IV Distinguished at last 163

Conclusion 219

Notes 225

Bibliography 265

Index 281