William Herschel (1738-1822) was a musician who began to study the mathematical foundation of harmony.
Mathematics led him to astronomy, and, with the help of his sister, Caroline, Herschel set out to map every star in the northern hemisphere with a magnitude of 4 or greater.
Through his detailed and methodical observations, Herschel found and identified Uranus as a planet in 1781.
The planet Uranus was named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus (Οὐρανός), the father of Cronus (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter).
The ancient Greeks considered Uranus to be primordial, and is believed to be the offspring of the ancient gods Aether and Hemera, Air and Day.
The word Uranus comes from “Ouranos” (Οὐρανός), which is the Greek word for sky.
