The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel by Emily Winterburn

Author:Emily Winterburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750986519
Publisher: The History Press

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While their English friends and colleagues might have looked upon the revolutions in France and America with excitement, the Herschels had already lived through enough political upheaval and saw no thrill in it. For them, the thought of revolution offered little romance. William had spent time on the battlefield during the Seven Years War and had fled to England as a young man, risking the possibility of never seeing his family again. Caroline, meanwhile, had grown up in a town sometimes under occupation and often on the brink of war and invasion. Her father had been away at war for much of her childhood, coming home towards the end of his life, sick and severely weakened by the experience. For a time, she had lived in a house filled with occupying French soldiers.

Growing up within that war-torn environment, Caroline had learned to shut herself off from the world around her and focus on her work. She saw little to be gained from becoming involved in politics, or following too carefully the news of the dramatic events happening around the world. She listened out for news of her family, but beyond that she kept her focus deliberately narrow. Back in Hanover, she had thrown herself into her studies, domestic work and self-improvement. When she came to England she brought that same focus with her, using it to good effect to become first an excellent singer and performer, and then assistant and astronomer. The revolution in France was a problem for France, and unfortunate for French friends and colleagues. When she did think about the revolution it was with them in mind, their safety and the ease (or lack of) with which their scientific news could get through. Beyond that, she kept her mind on her work.

Caroline’s lessons in astronomy had begun as an extension of her mathematics lessons not long after she first arrived in England. At first, her lessons had been designed very practically around the aim of teaching her the mathematics needed to keep the family’s household accounts. They soon morphed into lessons more connected with William’s new love of philosophy and astronomy than with the details of domestic expenditure. As time went on and Caroline’s knowledge grew, these lessons began to take on a different feel again. They went from accounting to helping William with his understanding of his latest reading. By the time they had moved to Slough they had changed again, serving a new purpose for Caroline as she tried to better her understanding of what interested or puzzled her. The ‘little lessons for Lina’ in Bath had transformed into ‘answers … to the inquiries I used to make when at breakfast’. No longer was William giving or imposing lessons on Lina; Caroline was now determining for herself what she was taught. She was taking charge, and the questions she now wanted answering were ones that would help her to become better at observing, and understanding William’s current theories.

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