Originally aspiring to a career as a singer, Caroline Lucretia Herschel instead became one of the world’s first female scientists. By herself, and in conjunction with her brother, astronomer William Herschel, Caroline helped to redefine the science of astronomy and bring it into the mainstream.

Born in 1750 in Germany, Caroline was the daughter of a musician in the Hanoverian Guards. Both she and her brother started out in music, with William moving to London, where he worked as a performer, conductor and teacher. Able to support himself financially, he was finally able to return to a childhood love--astronomy. Caroline, scarred by smallpox and her growth stunted by a childhood bout with typhus, was told by her father that she would never marry. She resigned herself to life as her mother’s scullery maid, until William vowed to save her from her dreary existence. In 1772, Caroline joined him in England, where she trained to be a singer and helped William with his scientific pursuits. He taught her mathematics, and she assisted him by polishing and grinding mirrors for his telescopes, copying his notes and helping him with the data he compiled. At that time, data reduction, which Caroline performed using the data from William’s observations, involved long and complicated calculations by hand, without the aid of modern technology such as calculators and computers. Eventually, though, Caroline became a respected astronomer in her own right, even earning her own salary from the king, unheard of for a woman at that time.

Caroline and her brother made a number of notable contributions to the still-fledgling science of astronomy, chiefly expanding the field to include not just the solar system, but also the stars, the nebulae and the cosmos. Together, they also discovered the satellites of Saturn and Uranus.

In 1783, Caroline discovered three new nebulae, and from 1786 to 1797, using her own telescope, Caroline discovered eight comets, the first known to have been discovered by a woman. She also compiled a complete index of the star catalogue of John Flamsteed, England’s first Astronomer Royal. Later, she worked with her nephew John Herschel, also an astronomer, and for him compiled a new catalogue of nebulae.

Caroline was one of the first two women to be named members of the Royal Society, a prestigious science organization in England. After her brother’s death, Caroline returned to Germany, but continued her scientific work. At age 78, Caroline won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, at 86 she was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and at 96 she won the King of Prussia’s Gold Medal for Science. She died in Germany at age 98.