226 years ago today, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. But he had some odd ideas about life in the Solar System. Extracts below are from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herschel
Sir Frederick William Herschel (15 November 1738-25 August 1822)
The turning point in Herschel's life was 13 March 1781 ... when he made the first sighting of the planet Uranus. This made him famous and enabled him to turn to astronomy [from music] full-time. Naming the new planet Georgium Sidus, Latin for "George's Star", in honour of King George III also brought him favour (the name didn't stick - in France, where reference to the English king was to be avoided if possible, the planet was known as 'Herschel' until the name 'Uranus' was universally adopted).
He continued his work as a telescope maker, selling a number of them to other astronomers. In 1783 he gave Caroline [his sister] a telescope and she began to make astronomical discoveries in her own right, particularly comets. Caroline also served as his full-time assistant, taking notes while he observed at the telescope.
Herschel discovered infrared radiation by passing sunlight through a prism and holding a thermometer just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum. The thermometer indicated a temperature increase and this led to Herschel's conclusion that there must be an invisible form of light.
Despite his numerous important scientific discoveries, Herschel was not averse to wild speculation. In particular, he believed every planet was inhabited, even the Sun: he believed that the Sun had a cool, solid surface protected from its hot atmosphere by an opaque layer of cloud, and that a race of beings adapted to their strange environment lived there that had enormous heads.
[Note: did I dream it, or are there still some folks saying our view of the Sun doesn't correspond to reality and it's more like Herschel's idea? Was it on IIS or a crazy web site? Or am I just going nuts?
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