John Frederick William Herschel

Photography

Herschel made numerous important contributions to photography. He made improvements in photographic processes, particularly in inventing the cyanotype

Herschel's ground-breaking research on the subject was read at the Royal Society in London in March 1839 and January 1840.

Other aspects of Herschel's career

Herschel wrote many papers and articles, including entries on meteorology, physical geography and the telescope for the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Alexander Stewart Herschel (1836–1907), astronomer Col. John Herschel (1837–1921), surveyor Maria Sophia Herschel (1839–1929), married Henry Hardcastle Amelia Herschel (1841–1926), married Sir Thomas Francis Wade, diplomat and sinologist Julia Herschel (1842–1933), married on 4 June 1878 to Captain (later Admiral) John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear Matilda Rose Herschel (1844–1914), a gifted artist, married William Waterfield, Indian Civil Service officer Francisca Herschel (1846–1932) Constance Anne Herschel (1855–1939), mathematician and scientist, married Sir Nevile Lubbock

Death The adjoining tombs of John Herschel and Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey.

Herschel died on 11 May 1871 at age 79 at Collingwood, his home near Hawkhurst in Kent. On his death, he was given a national funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey.

His obituary by Henry W Field of London was read to the American Philosophical Society on 1 December 1871.

Arms

Works

, (The Encyclopædia Metropolitana was published in 30 vols. from 1817–1845)