Frederick William
Thanks for stopping by and taking time out of your day to read my post. My intent is to put a smile on your face. Hopefully you’ll go away with some information you may have forgotten about or did not know. Now sit back and enjoy.
Frederick was born back in 1738 in Hanover, Germany to Isaac and Anna. I have researched and could not find anything about his formal education. What I can tell you about Frederick is apparently he was an accomplished musician. He played the oboe, violin, harpsichord and the organ. His works include 24 symphonies and many other concertos. You may know him better as William Herschel. Anyway on with the history lesson. He was also an amateur astrologer.
He played first violin for the Newcastle orchestra in Sunderland. He was the first organist at St. John the Baptist church in Halifax. In 1780 he was appointed director of the Bath orchestra. However, can you tell me what he is most noted for? Well you are in luck. Why in 1781 while observing stars he discovered the planet Uranus. Overnight he became a sensation. George III appointed him Court Astronomer. He constructed new telescopes and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Not that, that was enough he is also credited for using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure wavelength distributions of the stellar spectra. To continue he discovered Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn). He discovered infrared radiation. For his accomplishments he was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order and was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820. He died in 1822 at the age of 83
Comments(11)