Herschel!

[poliphilo]

OK, so I was sounding off about Trafalgar the other day and last night I was watching one of those improving cultural history programmes the BBC does so well. This one was about the history of science and it majored on the work of the 18th century astronomer William Herschel.

I came away wondering why this stuff isn't taught in schools. Herschel invented the reflecting telescope, discovered Uranus (no snarky comments please), mapped the Milky Way and was the first person to form a true estimate of the ginormous size of the universe. If these achievements don't make him a greater man than Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson (I nearly wrote Hornblower) I'll eat my (gold-trimmed, three-cornered) hat.

Comments

[cdpoint.livejournal.com]

It's easy to understand how Nelson got to be more famous: his achievements were easier for the popular press to describe and detect. One side beat the other, and it all happened with lots of noise. Scientific achievements were (are) harder for the average journalist to understand and tend to take place slowly and quietly.

Einstein got great press because his hair made for great news photos. If anything, he got most of his coverage long after his best achievements.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I also think it's got something to do with the power elite setting the news agenda.

Hey, but I've solved the problem of who we should put on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square-

Herschel!