Today in history 8-1

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1786
August 1
Caroline Herschel becomes first woman credited with discovering a comet

On August 1, 1782, Caroline Herschel—sister of William Herschel, an astronomer who discovered Uranus the year before—discovers a comet after spotting it through a telescope. This is the first comet discovery credited to a woman.

Herschel, a German-born British woman, began her work in astronomy through helping her brother. As William's assistant, Caroline Herschel executed many of the calculations from his studies. In 1782, prior to discovering the comet, she had been recording the positions of new sky objects in her own logbook.

Although Caroline Herschel received less credit than William Herschel, King George III of England—the same king Americans fought against in the Revolutionary War—recognized her work and gave her a salary. That made Herschel the first professional female astronomer. Over the next 11 years after the first discovery, Herschel discovered seven more comets.

Many places and objects in astronomy—including the C. Herschel crater on the Moon—are named after Herschel, though she didn't receive nearly as much credit as her brother did. But according to Mary Cornwallis Herschel, editor of Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, published in 1876, her famous ancestor was humble.

"Her own astronomical labors were remarkable, and in her later life she met with honor and recognition from learned men and learned societies," the younger Herschel wrote. "But her dominant idea was always the same: 'I am nothing, I have done nothing; all I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only the tool which he shaped to his use—a well-trained puppy dog would have done as much.'"

The Herschel Museum of Astronomy—located in Bath, England—celebrates the legacy of both the Herschel siblings.