BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy John Herschel

John Herschel was the son of William Herschel, discoverer of the planet Uranus. But he earned his own reputation as an astronomer, mathematician, chemist, translator, artist, writer, and pioneer of photography. When he died he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey near Sir Isaac Newton.

John Herschel

When the Herschels left South Africa, a momument was erected where the 20-ft telescope once stood. It's in the form of an obelisk. There are bronze plaques on three sides, each containing an inscription about John Herschel. One is in Latin, one in English and one in Afrikaans. Here is the monument in its early days. But today it's a registered historical monument and it's in the grounds of a primary school in the Claremont suburb of Cape Town.

John Herschel coined the term "photography" from Greek words meaning writing with light. (Though apparently, there was an earlier independent coinage by Hercule Florence in a remote province of Brazil which wasn't publicized at the time.)

Many early photographs were taken on glass plates. In fact, well into the 20th century, astronomy photography was done on glass "plates". The classic Palomar All Sky Survey, completed in 1958, was carried out this way.

The earliest photograph on glass still in existence was taken by John Herschel. It shows the framework of William Herschel's famous 40-ft telescope.

During their time in Cape Town the Herschels made 131 botanical illustrations showing the flora of the Cape. Here is an example of their work. John used a camera lucida to draw the outline and Margaret painted in the detail. These illustrations form a valuable reference collection.

I came across a drawing by John Herschel that's in the Getty Collection. It's called Bonneville near Geneva on Road to Chamonix. It was one of the drawings Herschel did in 1821 on a European tour. The camera lucida is a tool for sketching which projects an image onto the drawing paper and helps the artist with the perspective.