Herschel, Sir William

In 1800 Sir William Herschel found that a thermometer placed in the region beyond the red end of the solar spectrum (obtained by dispersing solar radiation with a prism) was heated even more than when placed in the visible portion Herschel had discovered infrared radiation. Around 1900 infrared (IR) absorption investigations of molecules began. 

The number of known metals had been increased by one—from 17 to 18... A few years ago we thrilled to hear of the discovery of the final planet by Sir William Herschel. He called the new member of our solar system Uranus. I propose to borrow from the honor of that great discovery and call this new element Uranium. 

The volume opens with a broad-brush introduction to the various types of infrared detectors that have evolved since Sir William Herschel s discovery of infrared radiation 175 years ago. The second chapter presents an overall perspective of the infrared detector art and serves as the cohesive cement for the more in-depth presentation of subsequent chapters. Those detector types which, for one reason or other have not attained wide use today, are also discussed in Chapter 2. 

In 1824 Faraday had already published important work in his own name, and he was proposed for election to the Royal Society by Richard Phillips, whom he had met at Tatum s lectures and with whom he was associated in technical and consultative work. Phillips (London 1778-11 May 1851), of Quaker origin, a pharmacist and lecturer in chemistry at St. Thomas s Hospital and Sandhurst Military Academy, had become F.R.S. in 1822, only two years before. He became president of the Chemical Society in 1849. He seems to have been an aggressive person. Neither Davy nor Brande could have signed Faraday s nomination, since as President and Secretary of the Royal Society they were precluded by custom from so doing. Wollaston, Children, Babington, or Sir William Herschel, who signed the certificate, would without doubt have nominated Faraday if asked. Faraday said ... 

Uranus discovered (Sir William Herschel) Herschel observes what he hrst believes to be a comet further observation establishes it as a planet eighteen times farther from the Sun than the Earth is. 

Dreyer, John Louis Emil, ed. The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel. Dorset, England Thoemmes Continuum, 2003. 

Sir William Herschel, an English astronomer, discovered the IR region of the spectrum in 1800. ... 

In 1800, while he was using a prism to spread sunlight into its component colors (wavelengths), the English astronomer Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) first... 

The Education and Public Outreach section of the Spitzer Space Telescope mission is known as Cool Cosmos 13). It has a wealth of information and links for teachers including details on reproducing how Sir Frederick William Herschel discovered IR radiation, now known as The Herschel Experiment. This is an experiment for younger students, perhaps up to middle school. 

In the 1820s, David Brewster (1781-1868), Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), and William Henry Fox Talbot performed similar types of experiments on the absorption of light to those by Fraunhofer. Independently, these researchers made the observation that flame spectra obtained by burning compounds of different compositions varied in systematic ways. These three researchers all produced line spectra, which they tried to relate to the dark lines observed by Fraunhofer... 

Plate 15 Sir Frederick William Herschel (1738-1822) German-British astronomer, and disocerer of Uranus, 1781. Reproduced with permission from Mary Evans Picture Library. 

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