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90-576: The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment , including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham . At first called the Lunar Circle, "Lunar Society" became the formal name by 1775. The name arose because the society would meet during

180-722: A violin concerto , an oboe concerto , and a harpsichord sonata . On 4 October 1767, he performed on the organ for the official opening of the Octagon Chapel. His sister Caroline arrived in England on 24 August 1772 to live with William in New King Street, Bath. The house they shared is now the location of the Herschel Museum of Astronomy . Herschel's brothers Dietrich (1755–1827), Alexander (1745–1821) and Jakob (1734–1792) also appeared as musicians of Bath. In 1780, Herschel

270-561: A 40-foot (12 m) focal length . The 40-foot telescope was, at that time, the largest scientific instrument that had been built. It was hailed as a triumph of "human perseverance and zeal for the sublimest science". In 1785 Herschel approached King George for money to cover the cost of building the 40-foot telescope. He received £4,000. Without royal patronage, the telescope could not have been created. As it was, it took five years, and went over budget. The Herschel home in Slough became

360-415: A blurred image. Because no one else was making mirrors of the size and magnification desired by Herschel, he determined to make his own. This was no small undertaking. He was assisted by his sister Caroline and other family members. Caroline Herschel described the pouring of a 30-foot-focal-length mirror: A day was set apart for casting, and the metal was in the furnace, but unfortunately it began to leak at

450-498: A clergyman, while the society's dependence on Matthew Boulton was lessened by holding meetings at other members' houses in addition to Soho House. The result was to be the society's most productive era. Several other major new figures became associated with the society during this period. Samuel Galton, Jr. , unusual as a Quaker who was also a gun-manufacturer, appears in the letters of other Lunar members as attending meetings from July 1781, and his daughter Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck

540-594: A digital age. In the latter part of the 20th century, the University of Birmingham Lunar Society met every Thursday to debate and discuss all manner of topics in the Guild bar. In 2011, steps were undertaken to reform the discussion society as an alternative to the more regulated debate options available at the university. This was agreed by the University's Guild of Students in autumn 2012. The society now hosts symposiums every two weeks. Any member has always been welcome to suggest

630-488: A disk. Herschel originally thought it was a comet or a stellar disc, which he believed he might actually resolve. He reported the sighting to Nevil Maskelyne the Astronomer Royal . He made many more observations of it, and afterwards Russian Academician Anders Lexell computed the orbit and found it to be probably planetary. Herschel agreed, determining that it must be a planet beyond the orbit of Saturn. He called

720-401: A higher content of copper. The mirrors had to be hand-polished, a painstaking process. A mirror was repeatedly put into the telescope and removed again to ensure that it was properly formed. When a mirror deformed or tarnished, it had to be removed, repolished and replaced in the apparatus. A huge rotating platform was built to support the telescope, enabling it to be repositioned by assistants as

810-477: A less dramatic effect: he kept in regular contact with other members of the society and remained an occasional attender of meetings. The leading figure behind the establishment of the society as a more organised body during this early period seems to have been Matthew Boulton : his home at Soho House in Handsworth was the principal venue for meetings, and in 1776 he is recorded as planning "to make many Motions to

900-400: A local mirror-builder and having obtained both tools and a level of expertise, started building his own reflecting telescopes . He would spend up to 16 hours a day grinding and polishing the speculum metal primary mirrors . He relied on the assistance of other family members, particularly his sister Caroline and his brother Alexander, a skilled mechanical craftsperson. He "began to look at

990-502: A major influence over Thomas Jefferson , and had formed the focus of a local group of intellectuals. His arrival with a letter of introduction to Matthew Boulton from Benjamin Franklin was to have a galvanising effect on the existing circle, which began to explicitly identify itself as a group and actively started to attract new members. The first of these was Josiah Wedgwood , who became a close friend of Darwin in 1765 while campaigning for

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1080-724: A most capital speculum " of his own manufacture, in October 1779, Herschel began a systematic search for such stars among "every star in the Heavens", with new discoveries listed through 1792. He soon discovered many more binary and multiple stars than expected, and compiled them with careful measurements of their relative positions in two catalogues presented to the Royal Society in London in 1782 (269 double or multiple systems) and 1784 (434 systems). A third catalogue of discoveries made after 1783

1170-538: A new 20-foot telescope came into service for William. During this time, William was attempting to observe and then record all of the observations. He had to run inside and let his eyes readjust to the artificial light before he could record anything, and then he would have to wait until his eyes were adjusted to the dark before he could observe again. Caroline became his recorder by sitting at a desk near an open window. William would shout out his observations and she would write them down along with any information he needed from

1260-474: A new residence on Windsor Road in Slough . Herschel lived the rest of his life in this residence, which came to be known as Observatory House . It was demolished in 1963. William Herschel's marriage in 1788 caused a lot of tension in the brother-sister relationship. Caroline has been referred to as a bitter, jealous woman who worshipped her brother and resented her sister-in-law for invading her domestic life. With

1350-496: A particular subject or discipline, provided they pay their membership fees. Older and more academic/professional societies may offer associateships and/or fellowships to fellows who are appropriately qualified by honoris causa , or by submission of a portfolio of work or an original thesis. A benefit of membership may be discounts on the subscription rates for the publications of the society. Many of these societies award post-nominal letters to their memberships. The membership at

1440-469: A period of up to fifty years, but was only ever an informal group. No constitution, minutes, publications or membership lists survive from any period, and evidence of its existence and activities is found only in the correspondence and notes of those associated with it. Historians therefore disagree on what qualifies as membership of the Lunar Society, who can be considered to have been members, and even when

1530-606: A reference book. Caroline began to make astronomical discoveries in her own right, particularly comets . In 1783, William built her a small Newtonian reflector telescope, with a handle to make a vertical sweep of the sky. Between 1783 and 1787, she made an independent discovery of M110 (NGC 205), which is the second companion of the Andromeda Galaxy . During the years 1786–1797, she discovered or observed eight comets. She found fourteen new nebulae and, at her brother's suggestion, updated and corrected Flamsteed's work detailing

1620-688: A regular visitor to Darwin's house in Lichfield . Darwin was a physician and poet who had studied at Cambridge and Edinburgh ; Boulton had left school at fourteen and started work in his father's business making metal goods in Birmingham at the age of 21. Despite their different backgrounds they shared a common interest in experiment and invention, and their activities would show Darwin's theoretical understanding and Boulton's practical experience to be complementary. Soon they were visiting each other regularly and conducting investigations into scientific subjects such as electricity, meteorology and geology. Around

1710-407: A scramble of "labourers and workmen, smiths and carpenters". A 40-foot telescope tube had to be cast of iron. The tube was large enough to walk through. Mirror blanks were poured from Speculum metal , a mix of copper and tin . They were almost four feet (1.2 m) in diameter and weighed 1,000 pounds (450 kg). When the first disk deformed due to its weight, a second thicker one was made with

1800-401: A series of portraits of the original Lunar Society members. The Library of Birmingham holds a large collection of Joseph Priestley's publications. Both archives also hold various letters of society members. Learned society Most learned societies are non-profit organizations , and many are professional associations . Their activities typically include holding regular conferences for

1890-433: A single concave mirror rather than a convex lens. This avoids chromatic aberration. The concave mirror gathered more light than a lens, reflecting it onto a flat mirror at the end of the telescope for viewing. A smaller mirror could provide greater magnification and a larger field of view than a convex lens. Newton's first mirror was 1.3 inches in diameter; such mirrors were rarely more than 3 inches in diameter. Because of

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1980-568: A sweep progressed. A platform near the top of the tube enabled the viewer to look down into the tube and view the resulting image. In 1789, shortly after this instrument was operational, Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn : Mimas , only 250 miles (400 km) in diameter. Discovery of a second moon ( Enceladus ) followed, within the first month of observation. The 40-foot (12-metre) telescope proved very cumbersome, and in spite of its size, not very effective at showing clearer images. Herschel's technological innovations had taken him to

2070-426: A telescope. An essential part of constructing and maintaining telescopes was the grinding and polishing of their mirrors. This had to be done repeatedly, whenever the mirrors deformed or tarnished during use. The only way to test the accuracy of a mirror was to use it. The largest and most famous of Herschel's telescopes was a reflecting telescope with a 49 1 ⁄ 2 -inch-diameter (1.26 m) primary mirror and

2160-526: A topic for discussion. These meetings occur in a variety of environments from University rooms to local bars. In 2013 the society attempted to change the name of one of the rooms in the Guild of Students to 'The Lunar Room' in honour of the original Birmingham Lunar Society. Like the Oxford Union , the society has always traditionally put a huge emphasis on freedom of speech. The society has similar aims to The Speculative Society of Edinburgh University. In 2019,

2250-495: A very perfect metal was found in the mould, which had cracked in the cooling. Herschel is reported to have cast, ground, and polished more than four hundred mirrors for telescopes, varying in size from 6 to 48 inches in diameter. Herschel and his assistants built and sold at least sixty complete telescopes of various sizes. Commissions for the making and selling of mirrors and telescopes provided Herschel with an additional source of income. The King of Spain reportedly paid £3,150 for

2340-564: Is recorded as having won a ballot for possession of the scientific books from the society's library. Among memorials to the Society and its members are the Moonstones ; two statues of Watt and a statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch by William Bloye ; and the museum at Soho House – all in Birmingham. A new Lunar Society was formed in Birmingham by a group led by Dame Rachel Waterhouse . Its aim

2430-758: The American Association for the Advancement of Science , specific to a given discipline, such as the Modern Language Association , or specific to a given area of study, such as the Royal Entomological Society . Most are either specific to a particular country (e.g. the Entomological Society of Israel ), though they generally include some members from other countries as well, often with local branches, or are international, such as

2520-576: The BBC television programme Stargazing Live built a replica of the 20-foot telescope using Herschel's original plans but modern materials. It is to be considered a close modern approximation rather than an exact replica. A modern glass mirror was used, the frame uses metal scaffolding and the tube is a sewer pipe. The telescope was shown on the programme in January 2013 and stands on the Art, Design, and Technology campus of

2610-935: The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions or the Regional Studies Association , in which case they often have national branches. But many are local, such as the Massachusetts Medical Society , the publishers of the internationally known The New England Journal of Medicine . Some learned societies (such as the Royal Society Te Apārangi ) have been rechartered by legislation to form quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations . Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election. Some societies offer membership to those who have an interest in

2700-933: The Royal Guelphic Order in 1816. He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820. He died in August 1822, and his work was continued by his only son, John Herschel . Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover in Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire , one of ten children of Isaak Herschel and his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, of German Lutheran ancestry. His ancestors came from Pirna , in Saxony . Theories that they were Protestants from Bohemia have been questioned by Hamel as

2790-1313: The World Association in Economics is free of cost. Following the globalization and the development of information technology, certain scholarly societies—such as the Modern Language Association—have created virtual communities for their members. In addition to established academic associations, academic virtual communities have been so organized that, in some cases, they have become more important platforms for interaction and scientific collaborations among researchers and faculty than have traditional scholarly societies. Members of these online academic communities, grouped by areas of interests, use for their communication shared and dedicated listservs (for example JISCMail ), social networking services (like Facebook or LinkedIn ) and academic oriented social networks (like Humanities Commons, ResearchGate , Mendeley or Academia.edu ). William Herschel Frederick William Herschel KH , FRS ( / ˈ h ɜːr ʃ əl / HUR -shəl ; German : Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈhɛʁʃl̩] ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822)

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2880-490: The full moon , as the extra light made the journey home easier and safer in the absence of street lighting. The members cheerfully referred to themselves as "lunaticks" , a contemporary spelling of lunatics . Venues included Erasmus Darwin 's home in Lichfield , Matthew Boulton 's home, Soho House , Bowbridge House in Derbyshire, and Great Barr Hall . The Lunar Society evolved through various degrees of organisation over

2970-478: The sociology of science argue that learned societies are of key importance and their formation assists in the emergence and development of new disciplines or professions. In the form of professional associations, they can assist in the creation of pathways to leadership. The World Association in Economics provides help to the members of the WAE on the following issues: Societies can be very general in nature, such as

3060-620: The Astronomer Royal to announce the discovery of her second comet, and wrote to Joseph Banks upon the discovery of her third and fourth comets. The Catalogue of stars taken from Mr Flamsteed's observations contained an index of more than 560 stars that had not been previously included. Caroline Herschel was honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society for this work in 1828. Caroline also continued to serve as William Herschel's assistant, often taking notes while he observed at

3150-599: The Bath Philosophical Society. Herschel became an active member, and through Watson would greatly enlarge his circle of contacts. A few years later, in 1785, Herschel was elected an international member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Herschel's early observational work soon focused on the search for pairs of stars that were very close together visually. Astronomers of

3240-499: The Herschel telescopes revealed that many objects called nebulae in the Messier catalogue were actually clusters of stars. On 13 March 1781 while making observations he made note of a new object in the constellation of Gemini. This would, after several weeks of verification and consultation with other astronomers, be confirmed to be a new planet, eventually given the name of Uranus . This was

3330-403: The Lunar Society lie in a pattern of friendships that emerged in the late 1750s. Matthew Boulton and Erasmus Darwin met some time between 1757 and 1758, possibly through family connections, as Boulton's mother's family were patients of Darwin; or possibly though shared friendships, as both were admirers of the printer John Baskerville and friends of the astronomer and geologist John Michell ,

3420-467: The Members respecting new Laws, and regulations, such as will tend to prevent the decline of a society which I hope will be lasting." This reliance on Boulton was also to prove a weakness, however, as the period coincided with the peak of his work building up his steam engine business and he was frequently absent. Although the 1770s was one of the society's richest eras in terms of its collaborative achievements,

3510-526: The Philosophy of Musical Sounds (1749), he took up Smith's A Compleat System of Opticks (1738), which described techniques of telescope construction. He also read James Ferguson 's Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's principles and made easy to those who have not studied mathematics (1756) and William Emerson 's The elements of trigonometry (1749), The elements of optics (1768) and The principles of mechanics (1754). Herschel took lessons from

3600-559: The United States in 1794, William Withering 's house was invaded by rioters and Matthew Boulton and James Watt had to arm their employees to protect the Soho Manufactory. Lunar meetings were continued by the younger generation of the families of earlier Lunar members, including Gregory Watt , Matthew Robinson Boulton , Thomas Wedgwood and James Watt junior , and possibly Samuel Tertius Galton . Regular meetings are recorded into

3690-734: The arrival of Mary, Caroline lost her managerial and social responsibilities in the household, and with them much of her status. Caroline destroyed her journals between the years 1788 to 1798, so her feelings during this period are not entirely known. According to her memoir, Caroline then moved to separate lodgings, but continued to work as her brother's assistant. When her brother and his family were away from their home, she would often return to take care of it for them. In later life, Caroline and Lady Herschel exchanged affectionate letters. Caroline continued her astronomical work after William's death in 1822. She worked to verify and confirm his findings as well as putting together catalogues of nebulae. Towards

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3780-605: The building of the Trent and Mersey Canal and subsequently closely modelled his large new pottery factory at Etruria, Staffordshire on Boulton's Soho Manufactory . Another new recruit, Richard Lovell Edgeworth , met Darwin, Small and Boulton in 1766 through a shared interest in carriage design, and he in turn introduced his friend and fellow Rousseau -admirer Thomas Day , with whom he had studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford . In 1767 James Keir visited Darwin in Lichfield, where he

3870-544: The death of their father, William suggested that Caroline join him in Bath, England. In 1772, Caroline was first introduced to astronomy by her brother. Caroline spent many hours polishing the mirrors of high performance telescopes so that the amount of light captured was maximized. She also copied astronomical catalogues and other publications for William. After William accepted the office of King's Astronomer to George III, Caroline became his constant assistant. In October 1783,

3960-459: The development of the Lunar Circle as a cohesive group, his death – probably from malaria – in 1775 was to mark another change in its structure. Small had been the key link between the members, and in his absence those remaining moved to place the group on a more organised footing. Meetings were to be held on the Sunday nearest the full moon, lasting from two o'clock in the afternoon until eight o'clock in

4050-532: The end of her life, she arranged two-and-a-half thousand nebulae and star clusters into zones of similar polar distances. She did this so that her nephew, John, could re-examine them systematically. Eventually, this list was enlarged and renamed the New General Catalogue . In 1828, she was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for her work. The most common type of telescope at that time

4140-546: The era expected that changes over time in the apparent separation and relative location of these stars would provide evidence for both the proper motion of stars and, by means of parallax shifts in their separation, for the distance of stars from the Earth. The latter was a method first suggested by Galileo Galilei . From the back garden of his house in New King Street, Bath, and using a 6.2-inch aperture (160 mm), 7-foot-focal-length (2.1 m) (f/13) Newtonian telescope "with

4230-409: The evening. The first was probably that held on 31 December 1775, and the "Lunar" name is first recorded in 1776. The era also saw significant changes in membership. William Withering – like Small, a physician – was already an acquaintance of Darwin, Boulton and Wedgwood when he moved from Stafford to Birmingham and became a member of the Society in 1776. John Whitehurst's move to London in 1775 had

4320-458: The first planet to be discovered since antiquity, and Herschel became famous overnight. As a result of this discovery, George III appointed him Court Astronomer. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes. Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry , using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure

4410-511: The group when he moved to Thornhill (near Dewsbury) in 1767, Franklin was to remain a common link among many of the early members. The nature of the group was to change significantly with the move to Birmingham in 1765 of the Scottish physician William Small , who had been Professor of Natural Philosophy at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia . There he had taught and been

4500-647: The last Twenty-five Years, in the relative Situation of Double-stars; with an Investigation of the Cause to which they are owing . In all, Herschel discovered over 800 confirmed double or multiple star systems, almost all of them physical rather than optical pairs. His theoretical and observational work provided the foundation for modern binary star astronomy; new catalogues adding to his work were not published until after 1820 by Friedrich Wilhelm Struve , James South and John Herschel . In March 1781, during his search for double stars, Herschel noticed an object appearing as

4590-465: The limits of what was possible with the technology of his day. The 40-foot would not be improved upon until the Victorians developed techniques for the precision engineering of large, high-quality mirrors. William Herschel was disappointed with it. Most of Herschel's observations were done with a smaller 18.5-inch (47 cm), 20-foot-focal-length (6.1 m) reflector. Nonetheless, the 40-foot caught

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4680-521: The milk of science", he continued to attend Lunar Society meetings at least until 1788. The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 caused political strains between members of the society, but it was the Priestley riots of 1791 in Birmingham itself that saw a decisive falling off of the society's spirit and activities. Joseph Priestley himself was driven from the town, leaving England entirely for

4770-424: The moment when ready for pouring, and both my brothers and the caster with his men were obliged to run out at opposite doors, for the stone flooring (which ought to have been taken up) flew about in all directions, as high as the ceiling. My poor brother fell, exhausted with heat and exertion, on a heap of brickbats. Before the second casting was attempted, everything which could ensure success had been attended to, and

4860-512: The new planet the "Georgian star" (Georgium sidus) after King George III , which also brought him favour; the name did not stick. In France, where reference to the British king was to be avoided if possible, the planet was known as "Herschel" until the name "Uranus" was universally adopted. The same year, Herschel was awarded the Copley Medal and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . In 1782, he

4950-477: The nineteenth century – eight in 1800, five or six before August 1801 and at least one in 1802, while as late as 1809 Leonard Horner was describing "the remnant of the Lunar Society" as being "very interesting". While individual members continued to produce work of importance, however, the collaborative activity that marked the heyday of the society was noticeably absent. The society had definitely collapsed by 1813, however: in August of that year Samuel Galton, Jr.

5040-401: The nucleus of the Lunar Society had come together with Small at their heart. The group at this time is sometimes referred to as the "Lunar circle", though this is a later description used by historians, and the group themselves used a variety of less specific descriptions, including "Birmingham Philosophers" or simply "fellow-schemers". If William Small's arrival in 1765 had been the catalyst to

5130-580: The parallax caused by the Earth's orbit. He waited until 1802 (in Catalogue of 500 new Nebulae, nebulous Stars, planetary Nebulae, and Clusters of Stars; with Remarks on the Construction of the Heavens ) to announce the hypothesis that the two stars were "binary sidereal systems" orbiting under mutual gravitational attraction , a hypothesis he confirmed in 1803 in his Account of the Changes that have happened, during

5220-567: The planets and the stars" in May 1773 and on 1 March 1774 began an astronomical journal by noting his observations of Saturn's rings and the Great Orion Nebula (M42). The English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne visited the Herschels while they were at Walcot (which they left on 29 September 1777). By 1779, Herschel had also made the acquaintance of Sir William Watson , who invited him to join

5310-458: The poor reflectivity of mirrors made of speculum metal , Herschel eliminated the small diagonal mirror of a standard newtonian reflector from his design and tilted his primary mirror so he could view the formed image directly. This "front view" design has come to be called the Herschelian telescope . The creation of larger, symmetrical mirrors was extremely difficult. Any flaw would result in

5400-512: The position of stars. She also rediscovered Comet Encke in 1795. Caroline Herschel's eight comets were published between 28 August 1782 to 5 February 1787. Five of her comets were published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . William was even summoned to Windsor Castle to demonstrate Caroline's comet to the royal family. William recorded this phenomenon himself, terming it "My Sister's Comet." She wrote letters to

5490-764: The presentation and discussion of new research results, and publishing or sponsoring academic journals in their discipline. Some also act as professional bodies, regulating the activities of their members in the public interest or the collective interest of the membership. Some of the oldest learned societies are the Académie des Jeux floraux (founded 1323), Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana (founded 1488), Accademia della Crusca (founded 1583), Accademia dei Lincei (founded 1603), Académie Française (founded 1635), German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (founded 1652), Royal Society (founded 1660) and French Academy of Sciences (founded 1666). Scholars in

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5580-614: The previously cited Catalogue of 500 New Nebulae ... (1802). He arranged his discoveries under eight "classes": (I) bright nebulae, (II) faint nebulae, (III) very faint nebulae, (IV) planetary nebulae, (V) very large nebulae, (VI) very compressed and rich clusters of stars, (VII) compressed clusters of small and large [faint and bright] stars, and (VIII) coarsely scattered clusters of stars. Herschel's discoveries were supplemented by those of Caroline Herschel (11 objects) and his son John Herschel (1754 objects) and published by him as General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters in 1864. This catalogue

5670-461: The public imagination. It inspired scientists and writers including Erasmus Darwin and William Blake , and impressed foreign tourists and French dignitaries. King George was pleased. Herschel discovered that unfilled telescope apertures can be used to obtain high angular resolution, something which became the essential basis for interferometric imaging in astronomy (in particular aperture masking interferometry and hypertelescopes ). In 2012,

5760-451: The recommendation of his business patron John Roebuck , being shown around the Soho Manufactory by Small and Darwin in Boulton's absence. Although neither Priestley nor Watt were to move to Birmingham for several years, both were to be in constant communication with the Birmingham members and central to the circle's activities from 1767. By 1768 the core group of nine individuals who would form

5850-904: The same time the Derby -based clockmaker John Whitehurst became a friend, first of Boulton and subsequently of Darwin, through his business supplying clock movements to Boulton's ormolu manufacturing operation. Although older than both Boulton and Darwin, by 1758 Whitehurst was writing to Boulton telling excitedly of a pyrometer he had built, and looking forward to visiting Birmingham "to spend one day with you in trying all necessary experiments". Boulton, Darwin and Whitehurst were in turn introduced by Michell to Benjamin Franklin when he travelled to Birmingham in July 1758 "to improve and increase Acquaintance among Persons of Influence", and Franklin returned in 1760 to conduct experiments with Boulton on electricity and sound. Although Michell seems to have withdrawn slightly from

5940-433: The seventh Duke of Chaulnes , Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond , Grossart de Virly , Johann Gottling . and Joseph Wright . This lack of a defined membership has led some historians to criticise a Lunar Society "legend", leading people to "confuse it and its efforts with the general growth of intellectual and economic activities in the provinces of eighteenth century Britain". Others have seen this both as real and as one of

6030-409: The society can be said to have existed. Josiah Wedgwood , for example, is described by some commentators as being one of five "principal members" of the society, while others consider that he "cannot be recognized as [a] full member" at all. Dates given for the establishment of the society range from "sometime before 1760" to 1775. Some historians argue that it had ceased to exist by 1791; others that it

6120-513: The society was rebranded as the Devil's Advocate Society, and retained the goals of the Lunar Society whilst changing much of its branding. Today, the society is an informal academic association open to both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professional academics, from the University of Birmingham. Historical material related to the Lunar Society is held in multiple collections. The University of Birmingham's Cadbury Research Library holds

6210-516: The society's main strengths: a paper read at the Science Museum in London in 1963 claimed that "of all the provincial philosophical societies it was the most important, perhaps because it was not merely provincial. All the world came to Soho to meet Boulton, Watt or Small, who were acquainted with the leading men of Science throughout Europe and America. Its essential sociability meant that any might be invited to attend its meetings." The origins of

6300-490: The society's meetings declined from regular occurrences in 1775 to infrequent ones by the end of the decade. In late 1780 the nature of the society was to change again with the move to Birmingham of Joseph Priestley . Priestley had been closely associated with the group's activities for over a decade and was a strong advocate of the benefits of scientific societies. Shortly after his arrival Lunar meetings moved from Sunday afternoons to Mondays to accommodate Priestley's duties as

6390-1167: The society's meetings provided its name and social focus, however, they were relatively unimportant in its activities, and far more activity and communication took place outside the meetings themselves – members local to Birmingham were in almost daily contact, more distant ones in correspondence at least weekly. A more loosely defined group has therefore been identified over a wider geographical area and longer time period, who attended meetings occasionally and who corresponded or co-operated regularly with multiple other members on group activities. These include Joseph Pickford , Richard Kirwan , John Smeaton , Henry Moyes , John Michell , Pieter Camper , R. E. Raspe , John Baskerville , Thomas Beddoes , John Wyatt , William Thomson , Cyril Jackson , Jean-André Deluc , John Wilkinson , John Ash , Samuel More , Robert Bage , James Brindley , Ralph Griffiths , John Roebuck , Thomas Percival , Joseph Black , James Hutton , Benjamin Franklin , Joseph Banks , James Lind , William Herschel , Daniel Solander , John Warltire , George Fordyce , Alexander Blair , Samuel Parr , Louis Joseph d'Albert d'Ailly , William Emes,

6480-524: The surname Herschel already occurred a century earlier in the very same area in which the family lived. Herschel's father was an oboist in the Hanover Military Band. In 1755 the Hanoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm and his brother Jakob were engaged as oboists, was ordered to England. At the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under King George II . As

6570-470: The telescope. For her work as William's assistant, she was granted an annual salary of £50 by George III. Her appointment made her the first female in England to be honoured with a government position. It also made her the first woman to be given a salary as an astronomer. In June 1785, owing to damp conditions, William and Caroline moved to Clay Hall in Old Windsor . On 3 April 1786, the Herschels moved to

6660-513: The threat of war with France loomed, the Hanoverian Guards were recalled from England to defend Hanover. After they were defeated at the Battle of Hastenbeck , Herschel's father Isaak sent his two sons to seek refuge in England in late 1757. Although his older brother Jakob had received his dismissal from the Hanoverian Guards, Wilhelm was accused of desertion (for which he was pardoned by George III in 1782). Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time,

6750-522: The two quarrelled bitterly and Stokes severed his relations with the main Lunar members by 1788. The society also lost several major figures over the period: Richard Lovell Edgeworth ceased regular involvement in the society's activities when he returned to Ireland in 1782, John Whitehurst died in London in 1788, and Thomas Day died the following year. Most significantly, Erasmus Darwin moved to Derby in 1781, but although he complained of being "cut off from

6840-456: The wavelength distribution of stellar spectra. In the course of these investigations, Herschel discovered infrared radiation . Other work included an improved determination of the rotation period of Mars , the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally, the discovery of Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn ). Herschel was made a Knight of

6930-580: Was a German-British astronomer and composer . He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel . Born in the Electorate of Hanover , William Herschel followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before emigrating to Britain in 1757 at the age of nineteen. Herschel constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent nine years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. Herschel published catalogues of nebulae in 1802 (2,500 objects) and in 1820 (5,000 objects). The resolving power of

7020-632: Was a quick student of the English language. In England, he went by the English rendition of his name, Frederick William Herschel. In addition to the oboe, he played the violin and harpsichord and later the organ . He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos, as well as some church music. Six of his symphonies were recorded in April 2002 by the London Mozart Players , conducted by Matthias Bamert (Chandos 10048). He

7110-995: Was appointed "The King's Astronomer" (not to be confused with the Astronomer Royal ). On 1 August 1782 Herschel and his sister Caroline moved to Datchet (then in Buckinghamshire but now in Berkshire ). There, he continued his work as an astronomer and telescope maker. He achieved an international reputation for their manufacture, profitably selling over 60 completed reflectors to British and Continental astronomers. From 1782 to 1802, and most intensively from 1783 to 1790, Herschel conducted systematic surveys in search of "deep-sky" or non-stellar objects with two 20-foot-focal-length (610 cm), 12-and-18.7-inch-aperture (30 and 47 cm) telescopes (in combination with his favoured 6-inch-aperture instrument). Excluding duplicated and "lost" entries, Herschel ultimately discovered over 2,400 objects defined by him as nebulae . (At that time, nebula

7200-574: Was appointed director of the Bath orchestra, with his sister often appearing as soprano soloist. Herschel's reading in natural philosophy during the 1770s not only indicates his personal interests, but also suggests an intention to be upwardly mobile, both socially and professionally. He was well-positioned to engage with eighteenth-century "philosophical Gentleman" or philomaths , of wide-ranging logical and practical tastes. Herschel's intellectual curiosity and interest in music eventually led him to astronomy. After reading Robert Smith 's Harmonics, or

7290-662: Was head of the Durham Militia band from 1760 to 1761. Herschel moved to Sunderland in 1761; Charles Avison engaged him as the first violin and soloist for his Newcastle orchestra, where he played for one season. In "Sunderland in the County of Durh: apprill [ sic ] 20th 1761" he wrote his Symphony No. 8 in C Minor. He visited the home of Sir Ralph Milbanke at Halnaby Hall near Darlington in 1760, where he wrote two symphonies, as well as giving performances himself. After Newcastle, he moved to Leeds and Halifax where he

7380-457: Was introduced to Boulton, Small, Wedgwood and Whitehurst and subsequently decided to move to Birmingham. The Lunar Circle also attracted more distant involvement. Joseph Priestley , then living in Leeds and a close friend of John Michell, became associated with the Society in 1767 when Darwin and Wedgwood became involved with his work on electricity. In the same year James Watt visited Birmingham on

7470-547: Was later edited by John Dreyer , supplemented with discoveries by many other 19th-century astronomers, and published in 1888 as the New General Catalogue (abbreviated NGC) of 7,840 deep-sky objects. The NGC numbering is still the most commonly used identifying label for these celestial landmarks. Herschel's discoveries later compiled in the New General Catalogue include NGC 12 , NGC 13 , NGC 14 , NGC 16 , NGC 23 , NGC 24 , NGC 1357 , and NGC 7457 . Following

7560-463: Was published in 1821 (145 systems). The Rev. John Michell of Thornhill published work in 1767 on the distribution of double stars, and in 1783 on "dark stars", that may have influenced Herschel. After Michell's death in 1793, Herschel bought a ten-foot-long, 30-inch reflecting telescope from Michell's estate . In 1797, Herschel measured many of the systems again, and discovered changes in their relative positions that could not be attributed to

7650-511: Was still operating as late as 1813. Despite this uncertainty, fourteen individuals have been identified as having verifiably attended Lunar Society meetings regularly over a long period during its most productive eras: these are Matthew Boulton , Erasmus Darwin , Thomas Day , Richard Lovell Edgeworth , Samuel Galton, Jr. , Robert Augustus Johnson, James Keir , Joseph Priestley , William Small , Jonathan Stokes , James Watt , Josiah Wedgwood , John Whitehurst and William Withering . While

7740-526: Was the refracting telescope , which involved the refraction of light through a tube using a convex glass lens . This design was subject to chromatic aberration , a distortion of an image due to the failure of light of different component wavelengths to converge. Optician John Dollond (1706–1761) tried to correct for this distortion by combining two separate lenses, but it was still difficult to achieve good resolution for far distant light sources. Reflector telescopes , invented by Isaac Newton in 1668, used

7830-554: Was the first organist at St John the Baptist church (now Halifax Minster ). In 1766, Herschel became organist of the Octagon Chapel, Bath , a fashionable chapel in a well-known spa, in which city he was also Director of Public Concerts. He was appointed as the organist in 1766 and gave his introductory concert on 1 January 1767. As the organ was still incomplete, he showed off his versatility by performing his own compositions including

7920-499: Was the generic term for any visually diffuse astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way , until galaxies were confirmed as extragalactic systems by Edwin Hubble in 1924. ) Herschel published his discoveries as three catalogues: Catalogue of One Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (1786), Catalogue of a Second Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (1789) and

8010-433: Was to play a leading part in the development of the city and the wider region. Its chair, appointed for a two-year term in 2019, was Deirdre LaBassiere. The society was still in operation in 2024. Outside Birmingham In Australia, The Lunaticks Society of Newcastle was formed by leading digital entrepreneurs, software developers, educators, film producers, creatives, investors to encourage creative thinking and new ideas in

8100-403: Was to provide one of the few first-hand accounts of the Lunar Society's activities. The botanist and physician Jonathan Stokes , who had known William Withering as a child, moved to Stourbridge and started attending Lunar Society meetings from 1783. His contribution to the society was significant but short-lived: after collaborating with Withering on his Botanical Arrangement of British Plants

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