Herschel

American  

[hur-shuhl] / ˈhɜr ʃəl /

noun

1. Sir John Frederick William, 1792–1871, English astronomer.

2. his father Sir William Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, 1738–1822, English astronomer, born in Germany.

3. Also Hershel. a male given name.

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Herschel British  

/ ˈhɜːʃəl /

noun

1. Caroline Lucretia. 1750–1848, British astronomer, born in Germany, noted for her catalogue of nebulae and star clusters: sister of Sir William Herschel

2. Sir John Frederick William. 1792–1871, British astronomer. He discovered and catalogued over 525 nebulae and star clusters

3. his father, Sir ( Frederick ) William, original name Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel. 1738–1822, British astronomer, born in Germany. He constructed a reflecting telescope, which led to his discovery of the planet Uranus (1781), two of its satellites, and two of the satellites of Saturn. He also discovered the motions of binary stars

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Herschel Scientific  

/ hûr′shəl /

1. Family of British astronomers led by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822), who discovered Uranus (1781) and cataloged more than 800 binary stars and 2,500 nebulae. His sister Caroline Herschel (1750–1848) discovered eight comets and several nebulae and star clusters, and published at least two astronomical catalogs which are still currently used. His son Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871) discovered 525 nebulae and pioneered celestial photography.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Herschel

Not since the Dallas Cowboys dealt away Herschel Walker had a bombshell trade rocked the NFL quite like this one.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

To investigate, the researchers collected sediment cores from several locations off the coast of Herschel Island.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

Number eight Jasper Wiese, scrum-half Cobus Reinach, centre Jessie Kriel, wings Jaco Williams and Kurt-Lee Arendse, scrum-half Herschel Jantjies and flanker Paul de Villiers scored the tries for the double world champions.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

Toward the end of the 18th century, astronomer William Herschel used star counts to map out the Milky Way.

From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2025

But the second problem, Herschel thought, was more tractable: Once life had been created, what process generated the observed diversity of the natural world?

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee