Item Letter 15 - Autograph letter, signed, from Herschel to Rev. John William Whittaker, from Slough

Identity area

Reference code

Herschel/Box 1/Letter 15

Unique identifier

GB 275 Herschel/Box 1/Letter 15

Title

Autograph letter, signed, from Herschel to Rev. John William Whittaker, from Slough

Date(s)

  • 8 November 1817 (Creation)

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3p. paper

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Name of creator

(1792-1871)

Biographical history

Astronomer; son of Sir William Herschel; senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, 1813; subsequently fellow of St John's College, Cambridge; MA 1816; helped to found Analytical Society, Cambridge, 1813; secretary to Royal Society 1824-7; president of Astronomical Society, 1827-32; created baronet, 1838; president of British Association, 1845; master of the Mint, 1850-5. Major contribution to astronomy through the discovery and cataloguing of many double stars, work on 'light' and early work on photographical process. Buried in Westminster Abbey.

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Scope and content

Asks for news from Cambridge, tells of Summer spent walking in Devonshire with Babbage, asks Whittaker to investigate the monetary transactions involved with a room of Herschel's. Notes the death of the philosopher, Delue

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