John Frederick William Herschel, born in 1792, was the only son of William Herschel. He wrote many papers on meteorology, the telescope, and physical geography. He was one of the few scientists to be motivated to enter science by his family than political events. He studied at Eton College and St. Johns College, and graduated in 1813. In 1816, he built a reflecting telescope with a mirror 18 inches in diameter, and a focal length of 20 feet. With the aid of James South, He re-examined the double stars catalogued by his father. For this work, he was presented with the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1826 (a medal he would win again in 1836).
In 1831, his A preliminary discourse on the study of natural philosophy was published. The book was intended to set guidelines for scientific exploration, linking observing and theorizing. He also stated that the highest point of philosophy was taking observations and confirming their connection with a single phenomenon. This authoritative statement would later influence Charles Darwin “with a burning zeal” for his own work.
Herschel published, in 1864, a catalog of his fathers work fused with his own. General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters was the written expansion to his father's book, Catalogue of Nebulae.
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