赫瑟尔家族(Herschel family)

英国天文学家家族。出生於德国的威廉.赫瑟尔（1738～1822）在1757年移民英格兰，原本靠音乐谋生。後来为了研究遥远的天体，开始自己动手研制镜面，终於成功制造了当时最好的望远镜。四十三岁时，发现了天王星，使他一举成名。他提出所有的星云都是由恒星组成的，并发展了一套有关星系的革新理论。他还发现红外辐射。1816年封爵。他的妹妹卡罗琳.卢克雷蒂亚.赫瑟尔（1750～1848），对她哥哥的研究贡献很大，她完成许多必要的计算工作，也用望远镜观察到三个星云和八颗彗星。1787年国王支付她年金以酬庸她的研究工作。威廉去世後她仍继续工作了几十年。威廉的儿子约翰.赫瑟尔（1792～1871）原本在剑桥大学学数学，1816年开始协助其父的研究工作。1833年出发到南半球研究那里的星空，1838年返国时，已记录了68,948颗恒星的位置。他也是一位很有成就的化学家，发明了感光纸照相法（同时塔尔博特也发明此法）。1831年封爵。他的儿子亚历山大.史都华.赫瑟尔（1836～1907）和约翰.赫瑟尔（1837～1921）也成为天文学家。

English version：

Herschel family

British family of astronomers. The German-born William Herschel (1738-1822) emigrated to England in 1757 and initially supported himself through music. In order to study distant celestial objects, he ground his own mirrors, producing the best telescopes of the day. His discovery of Uranus catapulted him to fame at 43. He hypothesized that nebulae are composed of stars and developed a theory of stellar evolution. He also discovered infrared radiation. He was knighted in 1816. His sister, Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1750-1848), contributed to her brother's researches, carrying out many of the necessary calculations. She also detected by telescope three nebulae and eight comets. In 1787 the king gave her an annual pension in recognition of her work. She continued to work for decades after William's death. William's son John (1792-1871) studied mathematics at Cambridge University and from 1816 assisted his father. He later undertook a journey to the Southern Hemisphere to survey its skies there; he returned in 1838 having recorded the locations of 68,948 stars. Also an accomplished chemist, he invented (independently of (W.H.) Fox Talbot) the process of photography on sensitized paper. He was knighted in 1831. His sons Alexander Stewart (1836-1907) and John (1837-1921) also became astronomers.