The Royal Society has digitsied and made available over 10,000 letters of the astronomer and photographic pioneer Sir John Frederick William Herschel FRS (1792-1871) for the first time on the Royal Society’s Science in the Making archives portal. This collection of nearly 10,900 letters, drafts, copies and notes is the largest repository of scientific correspondence from and to Sir John Herschel, leading figure of Victorian science and is based on
Digital audiences can now travel through time to read about Herschel’s work in his own words and those of his correspondents. They can delve into first-hand accounts of Herschel’s mapping of the southern hemisphere skies and his contribution to the development of photography, including inventing the blueprint. They will also find his early mathematical work, and even his contested translation of Homer's epic poem, The Iliad.
As a collection, the correspondence is organised into three main groups of documents. HS/1 to HS/19 are manuscripts of the letters sent to Herschel and drafts and contemporary copies in his hand of his replies, which he preserved carefully in a dedicated cabinet. This includes correspondence with Mary Somerville (1780-1872), Charles Babbage FRS (1791-1871), Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), Michael Faraday FRS (1791-1867), Augustus de Morgan (1806-1871) and Charles Darwin FRS (1809-1882).
HS/20 to HS/25 are copy books of Sir John Herschel’s outgoing letters gathered posthumously in 1873-1874 under the direction of one of his sons, the engineer and surveyor Colonel John Herschel FRS (1837-1921). The logistics of this copying exercise are also preserved in HS/28.
The copyists, Colonel John Herschel (who transcribed or checked the vast majority of letters), helped by his wife Mary Cornwallis Herschel (1829–1876) and one of his sisters, Francesca Herschel FRAS (1846-1932), initialed or signed their work.
HS/26 and HS/27 contains groups of letters relating to particular topics, such as Herschel's involvement in William Henry Fox Talbot's photography patent disputes, the administration of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Telescope Glass Committee, Sir John Herschel and Charles Babbage's disagreements with Sir Humphry Davy FRS (1778-1829) and Sir James South FRS (1785-1867) after Babbage's unsuccessful nomination for the position as Secretary of the Royal Society, and the construction of Babbage's "calculating machines", now known as the Difference Engine.
Herschel's correspondence also goes beyond the scientific and highlights his engagement with the Victorian cultural world, through poetic and literary forays and a deep interest in photographic arts. We find letters from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) poet Elizabeth Colling (1799-1879) writer Joanna Baillie (1762-1851) and photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, all of whom maintained close friendships with Herschel over decades.
Read more here: https://royalsociety.org/news/2024/06/sir-john-herschel-letters/ and https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/hs/correspondence-of-sir-john-frederick-william-herschel-2
Search the letters: https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/hs/correspondence-of-sir-john-frederick-william-herschel
Image: Portrait of John Frederick William Herschel, by Christian Albrecht Jensen, 1843.
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