卡罗琳·赫歇尔Caroline Herschel

卡罗琳·赫歇尔是Isaac Herschel和Anna Ilse Moritzen的女儿。她是威廉·赫歇尔的妹妹，也是约翰·赫歇尔的姑姑。赫歇尔的父亲Isaac是汉诺威步兵卫队的一名双簧管手，后来升为乐队指挥。尽管他没有受过正规教育，但他努力给他的四个儿子和两个女儿良好的教育。他对音乐、哲学和天文学的兴趣导致他们家中进行了热烈的交谈，但赫歇尔的母亲总体上不赞成学习，尽管她不情愿地接受她的四个儿子应该接受一些教育，但她强烈反对她的女儿们做家务以外的任何事情。

赫歇尔的四个兄弟都被培养成音乐家，而赫歇尔则表现出对知识的热情，她的父亲试图满足这种热情，尽管她的母亲竭尽全力确保她除了家务什么都不做。赫歇尔回忆说，她的父亲带她[4]：-

……在一个晴朗的霜夜来到街上，让我认识几个美丽的星座，此前我们一直在凝视当时可见的一颗彗星。

赫歇尔做梦也想不到有一天她会对彗星研究做出重大贡献。

1757年法国占领汉诺威后，Isaac忙于与法国人作战，因此不在家。威廉·赫歇尔逃到英国，在那里成为一名音乐教师，而赫歇尔则留在她母亲的控制下，母亲送她去学编织，否则就让她忙于家务。1760年，Isaac健康状况不佳地回到家中，赫歇尔基本上过着仆人的生活，直到他于1767年去世。她父亲的去世似乎让赫歇尔意识到她必须对自己的生活有所掌控，她上了裁缝课，并学习以取得家庭教师的资格。然而，在她母亲要求她做这么多工作的情况下，还要兼顾学习，这被证明是一个巨大的负担。

1766年，威廉·赫歇尔成为巴斯的一名管风琴师，1772年，赫歇尔也到那里与他汇合。尽管母亲强烈反对，她还是搬了过去，因为母亲对于实际上失去一个仆人感到非常不快。赫歇尔一直与她的哥哥威廉·赫歇尔非常亲近，到达巴斯后，她接受哥哥的声乐训练，成为一名歌手。威廉·赫歇尔教给赫歇尔的不仅仅是音乐技能。他在长时间教授音乐之后，利用漫长一天结束时的闲暇时间学习了数学和天文学，阅读了诸如科林·麦克劳林的Fluxions等著作。现在他开始教赫歇尔英语和数学，同时他自己则越来越深入地投身于天文学。

赫歇尔开始成功地进行歌唱演出[6]：-

作为《弥赛亚》、《犹大·马加比》等的第一高音，她有时一周在巴斯或布里斯托尔演唱五个晚上，但拒绝了伯明翰音乐节的聘约，因为她已决定只在她哥哥指挥的地方演出。

除了唱歌，赫歇尔还帮助威廉·赫歇尔进行音乐活动，并在他花费许多时间从事制造望远镜这一新爱好时照顾他。渐渐地，赫歇尔越来越多地转向帮助威廉·赫歇尔进行天文活动，同时他继续教她代数、几何和三角学。特别是，赫歇尔学习了球面三角学，这对于归算天文观测结果很重要。然而，她对数学本身并不感兴趣，只认为那些在应用中有用的部分值得学习。

几乎不可避免地，赫歇尔的角色从照顾威廉·赫歇尔转变为帮助他进行科学活动，这些活动很快占据了她所有可用的时间。赫歇尔写道（例如见[4]）：-

每一个闲暇时刻都被急切地抓住，以继续某项正在进行的工作，既不抽出时间也不更换衣服，许多蕾丝褶边……被熔化的沥青撕裂或溅污。……我甚至不得不把食物一点一点地放进他嘴里喂他；——有一次，在完成一面7英尺镜子时，他已经16个小时没有离开它……

1781年，威廉·赫歇尔的天文学从一项爱好发生了变化，当时他因发现如今命名为天王星的行星而声名鹊起。国王乔治三世给威廉·赫歇尔每年200英镑的薪水，这虽不算慷慨，但足以让他成为全职天文学家。赫歇尔一家放弃了音乐活动，于1782年8月搬到达切特，在那里一直待到1785年6月，然后再次搬家，这次搬到了温莎附近的克莱霍尔。赫歇尔无疑是带着许多遗憾放弃音乐并开始积极参与天文学的。威廉·赫歇尔给了她一架望远镜，她开始用它进行观测，特别是通过有条理地扫视天空来寻找彗星。

赫歇尔发现，由于她全力帮助威廉·赫歇尔进行天文项目，自己进行观测的时间远比预期的少。白天，赫歇尔会处理威廉·赫歇尔在前一晚观测得到的结果。她进行了必要的冗长计算，以非凡的精确度整理威廉的数据。事实上，只有当威廉·赫歇尔离家时，赫歇尔才能有较多时间从事自己的研究计划。1786年4月，威廉·赫歇尔和赫歇尔搬到了位于斯劳的新家，他们称之为天文台宅。在那里，1786年8月1日，赫歇尔发现了她的第一颗彗星，有人将其称为“第一夫人的彗星”。这一发现为赫歇尔带来了一定程度的名声，也有文章写到了她。其中一篇文章这样描述她（见[6]）：-

……非常娇小，非常温柔，非常谦逊，非常天真……

而另一篇则这样描述她：-

……一个极其优秀、心地善良的人……

1787年，国王乔治三世给赫歇尔每年50英镑的薪水，作为威廉的助手。次年，威廉·赫歇尔与Mary Pitt结婚，赫歇尔的生活发生了显著变化[9]：-

起初，赫歇尔深受这桩婚事的影响，搬到了厄普顿的住所。她继续支持哥哥的工作，每天步行去天文台宅，成了知名人物。常常，当威廉·赫歇尔在漫长的夜间观测后休息时，白天家里尽量保持安静。最终，两位女士——玛丽和赫歇尔——之间的关系变得融洽起来……

赫歇尔记日记，在日记中记录了她的想法，特别是记录了她与兄弟关系变化带来的巨大痛苦，也记录了她对他妻子的怨恨。然而，随着两位女士关系的改善，赫歇尔对自己针对Mary的尖刻评论感到后悔，她销毁了那段生活中日记的每一页。

从1786年到1797年，赫歇尔总共发现了八颗彗星，随后她开始了一个新项目，即对约翰·佛兰斯蒂德编制的星表进行交叉参照和校正。1798年，赫歇尔向皇家学会提交了一篇Index to Flamsteed's Observations of the Fixed Stars以及一份被遗漏的560颗恒星的列表。这一出版标志着她自己研究的暂时结束，直到25年后威廉去世后，她才重新开始研究。

这25年对赫歇尔来说并非毫无意义。她参与了约翰·赫歇尔、威廉·赫歇尔和Mary Herschel于1792年出生的儿子的教育。约翰·赫歇尔在假期里长时间与他的姑母在一起，深受赫歇尔的影响。她看着他接受剑桥的教育，成为一位成名的数学家，当选为皇家学会会士，与他的父亲一起从事天文学研究，并因其成就而获得皇家学会的科普利奖章。赫歇尔继续协助威廉·赫歇尔进行观测，但她的地位已比她年轻时的管家身份大大提高。1799年，她是内维尔·马斯基林在皇家天文台的客人，并在1816年、1817年和1818年不同时期成为王室成员的客人。

1822年威廉·赫歇尔去世后，赫歇尔回到了汉诺威。从许多方面来看，这是一个糟糕的决定，做出得太仓促，她很快就后悔了，但她始终是一个无论个人后果如何都会信守承诺的人，因此她永远不会回到英格兰。在她兄弟生前，她所有的精力都用于帮助他的天文工作，但现在她转而帮助他的儿子约翰·赫歇尔。当然，这种帮助不是以私人助理的方式给予的，而是作为独立研究者编制星云表，以协助弗瑞兹·约翰的天文工作。她完成了包含2500个星云的星云表，1828年，Royal Astronomical Society因这项工作授予她金质奖章。

尽管赫歇尔后悔在汉诺威度过最后25年，但也有很多补偿。她现在是科学界的名人，许多科学家拜访她，包括卡尔·弗里德里希·高斯。她的侄子约翰·赫歇尔于1832年6月拜访赫歇尔，当时她83岁，他这样写道（例如见[6]）：-

她和我一起在城里跑来跑去，轻快地爬上两段楼梯。早上，到十一二点，她显得沉闷疲倦，但随着一天推进，她恢复了活力，到晚上十点还相当‘精神有趣’，唱古老的歌谣，甚至跳舞。

赫歇尔因其科学成就获得许多荣誉。1835年，她与玛丽·费尔法克斯·萨默维尔一起被选为皇家天文学会的名誉会员。她们是首批女性名誉会员。1838年，她还被选为爱尔兰皇家科学院的成员，随后在她96岁生日时收到一封信[3]：-

普鲁士国王陛下，为表彰您作为您不朽兄弟的合作者对天文学做出的宝贵贡献，愿以他的名义向您颁发科学大金质奖章。

在她97岁生日时，赫歇尔[6]：-

……以极大的兴致款待了王储和王储妃两个小时，甚至为他们唱了一首她兄弟威廉·赫歇尔创作的曲子。

1889年，一颗小行星以赫歇尔 Lucretia 赫歇尔的名字被命名为Lucretia，这是对一位贡献如此之多、却几乎没有个人野心、甚至不喜欢别人赞扬自己以免减损她兄弟威廉·赫歇尔荣光的人的恰当致敬。

Caroline Herschel was the daughter of Isaac Herschel and Anna Ilse Moritzen. She was sister of William Herschel and the aunt of John Herschel. Caroline's father Isaac was an oboist in the Hanovarian Foot Guards and rose to become the bandmaster. Although a man with no formal education, he tried hard to give his four sons and two daughters a good education. His interests in music, philosophy and astronomy led to lively conversations in their home but Caroline's mother disapproved of learning in general and although she reluctantly accepted that her four sons should have some education, she strongly opposed her daughters doing anything other than the household chores.

Caroline Herschel's four brothers were all brought up to be musicians while Caroline showed an enthusiasm for knowledge which her father tried to satisfy despite all her mother's efforts to ensure that she did nothing but household tasks. Caroline recalled that her father took her [4]:-

... on a clear frosty night into the street, to make me acquainted with several of the beautiful constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which was then visible.

Caroline could never have thought in her wildest dreams that one day she would make a major contribution to the study of comets.

After the French occupation of Hanover in 1757, Isaac was occupied fighting the French and so was not at home. William escaped to England, where he became a music teacher, and Caroline was left under the control of her mother who sent her to learn to knit and otherwise kept her fully occupied with household chores. In 1760 Isaac returned home in poor health and Caroline essentially lived the life of a servant until he died in 1767. The death of her father seems to have made Caroline realise that she had to take some control of her own life and she took lessons in dressmaking and studied to qualify as a governess. However, fitting in the studies while her mother demanded so much work from her proved a great strain.

In 1766 William became an organist in Bath and, in 1772, Caroline joined him there. She made this move despite strong protests from her mother who was very unhappy at effectively losing a servant. Caroline had always been very close to her brother William and, after arriving in Bath, she trained as a singer receiving lessons from her brother. William taught Caroline more than musical skills. He had studied mathematics and astronomy in his spare time at the end of a long day after many hours teaching music, reading works such as Maclaurin's Fluxions. Now he began to teach Caroline English and mathematics while he himself became more and more involved with astronomy.

Caroline began giving successful singing performances [6]:-

As first treble in the Messiah, Judas Macabaeus, etc., she sang at Bath or Bristol sometimes five nights in the week, but declined an engagement for the Birmingham festival, having resolved to appear only where her brother conducted.

In addition to her singing, Caroline helped William with his musical activities and looked after him while he spent many hours with his new hobby of constructing telescopes. Slowly Caroline turned more and more towards helping William with his astronomical activities while he continued to teach her algebra, geometry and trigonometry. In particular Caroline studied spherical trigonometry which would be important for reducing astronomical observations. However, she was not interested in mathematics for its own sake, finding only those parts which were useful in applications worth studying.

Almost inevitably Caroline's role changed from looking after William to helping him with his scientific activities which soon occupied every available moment. Caroline wrote (see for example [4]):-

Every leisure moment was eagerly snatched at for resuming some work which was in progress, without taking time or changing dress, and many a lace ruffle ... was torn or bespattered by molten pitch. ... I was even obliged to feed him by putting the vitals by bits into his mouth; - this was once the case when at the finishing of a 7 foot mirror he had not left his hands from it for 16 hours ...

Astronomy changed from a hobby for William in 1781 when he achieved fame by discovering the planet now named Uranus. King George III gave William a £200 per year salary which was less than generous but sufficient to allow him to become a full-time astronomer. Giving up their musical activities the Herschels moved to Datchet in August 1782 where they remained until June 1785 when they moved again, this time into Clay Hall, near Windsor. It was certainly not without many regrets that Caroline abandoned music and began to take an active part in astronomy. William gave her a telescope with which she began to make observations, in particular searching for comets making methodical sweeps of the sky.

Caroline found much less time than she expected to make her own observations as she became fully involved helping William with his astronomical projects. By day Caroline would work on the results obtained by William while observing on the previous night. She carried out the lengthy calculations necessary to reduce William's data with remarkable accuracy. In fact only when William was away from home was Caroline able to spend much time with her own program of research. In April 1786 William and Caroline moved to a new home they called Observatory House which was in Slough and there, on 1 August 1786, Caroline discovered her first comet which was described by some as the "first lady's comet". This discovery brought Caroline a certain degree of fame and articles were written about her. In one such article she is described as (see [6]):-

... very little, very gentle, very modest, and very ingenuous...

while another describes her as:-

... a most excellent, kind-hearted creature...

In 1787 King George III gave Caroline a £50 per year salary as assistant to William. In the following year William married Mary Pitt and Caroline's life changed markedly [9]:-

Initially Caroline was deeply affected by the marriage, and moved out to lodgings at Upton. She continued to support her brother's work and in making the daily walk to Observatory House, became a well-known figure. Often, with William resting after a long night of observation, the house was kept as quiet as possible during the day. Eventually the relationship between the two ladies - Mary and Caroline - warmed ...

Caroline kept a diary into which she had recorded her thoughts, in particular she had recorded her great distress at the change in relationship with her brother and she also recorded her bitterness towards his wife. However, as the relationship between the two ladies improved, Caroline regretted her bitter comments against Mary and she destroyed every page of her diary over this time in her life.

In total Caroline discovered eight comets between 1786 and 1797 and she then embarked on a new project of cross-referencing and correcting the star catalogue which had been produced by Flamsteed. In 1798 Caroline submitted to the Royal Society an Index to Flamsteed's Observations of the Fixed Stars together with a list of 560 stars which had been omitted. This publication marked the temporary end of her own researches which she would not begin again until 25 years later after William's death.

This period of 25 years was not one which lacked interest for Caroline. She became involved with the education of John Herschel, William and Mary Herschel's son who was born in 1792. John Herschel spent long periods with his aunt during the vacations and was greatly influenced by Caroline. She saw him educated at Cambridge, make a name for himself as a mathematician, become elected to the Royal Society, join his father in research in astronomy and be awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society for his achievements. Caroline continued to assist William with his observations but her status had greatly improved from the housekeeper she had been in her young days. She was the guest of Maskelyne at the Royal Observatory in 1799 and a guest of members of the Royal Family at various times in 1816, 1817 and 1818.

Caroline returned to Hanover after William's death in 1822. In many ways it was a bad decision, made too quickly, which she soon regretted but she was always one to keep a promise whatever the personal consequences so she would never return to England. All her energies had been directed towards helping her brother in his astronomical work during his lifetime but now she turned to help his son John Herschel. Certainly this help was not given in the same way as a personal assistant, but rather now as independent researcher producing a catalogue of nebulae to assist John in his astronomical work. She completed her catalogue of 2500 nebulae and, in 1828, the Royal Astronomical Society awarded her its gold medal for this work.

Although Caroline regretted spending her last 25 years in Hanover there were many compensations. She was now a celebrity in the world of science and she was visited by many scientists including Gauss. Her nephew John Herschel, visiting Caroline in June 1832 when she was 83 years old, wrote of her (see for example [6]):-

She runs about the town with me, and skips up her two flights of stairs. In the morning, till eleven or twelve, she is dull and weary, but as the day advances she gains life, and is quite 'fresh and funny' at ten p.m., and sings old rhymes, nay, even dances.

Caroline Herschel received many honours for her scientific achievements. Together with Mary Somerville, she was elected to honorary membership of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1835. They were the first honorary women members. She was also elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1838 and then on her 96th birthday she received a letter [3]:-

His Majesty the King of Prussia, in recognition of the valuable service rendered to astronomy by you, as the fellow worker of your immortal brother, wishes to convey to you in his name the Large Gold Medal for science.

On her 97th birthday Caroline [6]:-

... entertained the crown prince and princess with great animation for two hours, even singing to them a composition of her brother William.

A minor planet was named Lucretia in 1889 in Caroline Lucretia Herschel's honour, a fitting tribute to one who had contributed so much, yet had so little personal ambition that she disliked praise directed towards her lest it detract from her brother William.