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Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Herschel , Sir , William , 1738-1822 , Knight , astronomer and musician
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Description area
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History
William Herschel was a self-taught astronomer who began life as an army musician in Hanover and came to England in 1758 as a refugee during the Seven Years War. In 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. George III appointed him Court Astronomer. He settled at Slough in 1786 and built a telescope which was the largest in the world until it was dismantled in 1839. In 1788 he married Mary Pitt (nee Baldwin). Among a number of biographies is Angus Armitage, William Herschel (London, 1962).