Hundreds of years ago, Caroline Herschel lived a real-life Cinderella story. Except instead of marrying a handsome prince, she became a world-renowned astronomer! Her brutal childhood was one of servitude, suffering and loneliness. Childhood diseases piled on the misery, stunting her growth, disfiguring her face and blinding her in one eye. But Caroline Herschel’s story is an incredibly beautiful tale of triumph and achievement. Her meteoric rise to fame for her astonishing astronomical discoveries led to international renown. The adoring public named her The Comet Huntress.
Katie interviews Joseph Middleton on location at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath, England. This episode also features excerpts from Caroline Herschel’s memoirs,wonderfully performed by Kevin E Green for Librivox. An ebook version of her memoir is also available for free from Project Gutenberg.
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Geni
Bath, England
photo by Nick Veitch
photo by Johannes Schedler
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Nick Veitch
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Katie Nelson
photo by Geni
by Lemuel Francis Abbott
Our guest Joseph Middleton has been the manager of the Herschel Museum of Astronomy for the past six years and has worked in museums in Bath, England, for the last ten years, including being the manager of No.1 Royal Crescent. He studied Fine Art at Falmouth University.
Music featured in this episode included
Various works composed by William Herschel performed by the Herschel Ensemble
Handel’s Messiah, performed by the Ealing Common Choir
Your purchases help support the podcast!
She was the focus of my final piece for UAL Foundation Art and Design – at Hereford College of Arts 2018. I created responses in textiles; print and glass. My glass was displayed at Synthesis 2018 – Cosmos; symbolic of the first lady comet hunter and another woman missing from the timeline at Greenwich and elsewhere. Image of the piece came be seen on uniqueglassart.co.uk and also FB page uniqueglassart, hereford. Emily Winterburn was kind enough to send me a copy of her transcript talk given in April 2018
What a completely lovely piece, thank you so much for sharing it with us! I think Caroline would be delighted!
Thanks…………………now its expended I shall copper foil the pieces so it would be possible for them to be soldered together. Fully intend to promote other forgotten women of history in my BA (Hons) studies at UWTSD.