Description
John Herschel (1792 – 1871) was extremely clever with all-round abilities in areas such as mathematics, science and astronomy.

He graduated from Cambridge with the top mark in mathematics. Afterwards he tried to be a lawyer, but didn’t like it. John Herschel got an interest in astronomy from his father, William Herschel, who discovered Uranus. One of John Herschel’s observations was of a force repelling Halley’s comet away from the sun. We now know this to be solar wind.

After inventing a new fixing technique in photography he went to the Royal Mint for a few difficult years as Master of the Mint. After retiring at the age of 63 he continued with scientific work right up until his death. Perhaps it was his all-round abilities that led him to repeatedly change his focus. Although he didn’t become world leader in any one field, he advanced many subjects through his skills. His obituary in The Times noted that “European science has lost one of her illustrious members in the person of Sir John Herschel”.