Caroline Herschel
First paid female astronomer
German-British astronomer (1750-1848).
Stunted by childhood typhus and barred from marriage by her mother, she joined her brother William in England as his housekeeper — then learned mathematics, sweep-the-skies technique, and became his indispensable observing partner. Discovered eight comets and three nebulae in her own right; in 1787 King George III paid her £50 a year to assist William, making her the first woman ever paid a scientific salary.
Famous for
- Discovered eight comets
- Catalogued nebulae and star clusters
- First woman paid a scientific salary (1787)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828)
In Rubicon
Caroline Herschel is one of the historical characters you can play as in Rubicon, a trivia game where you answer in your own words and an AI judge reads what you meant. Caroline Herschel is filed under Earth & Space, and is strongest at Earth & Space and Natural Sciences.
Others in Earth & Space
- Claudius Ptolemy — Ancient astronomer + geographer
- Maria Mitchell — First American woman astronomer
- Tycho Brahe — Master of the naked-eye sky
- Eratosthenes of Cyrene — Measured the Earth
- Annie Jump Cannon — Classified the stars