While her father, a military musician tried to provide her, and all his children, with an education in mathematics, music, and French, Caroline’s mother did not see the need for a girl to become educated.
She preferred Lina, as she was known, to work as a maid for the family. Thanks to the deformities caused by her illnesses, her parents concluded she would never marry.
In 1757, Caroline’s 19-year-old brother William escaped to England where he began to teach music. Later, their brother, Alexander, joined him and they frequently performed as musicians. In 1766, William moved to Bath, England to become organist and choir master at the Octagon Chapel. Six years later, he asked 22 year old Caroline to come to Bath to act as his housekeeper.
William, an accomplished musician and conductor, gave Caroline voice lessons and trained her in mathematics as well. Despite her physical problems, Caroline became a well known soprano and began to sing professionally. Among her best received works were solo parts in the Messiah and Judas Maccabeus.
William was also a great astronomer and on March 13, 1781, spotted what he first believed to be a comet. After careful observation by himself and other astronomers, it was determined he had discovered a new planet, Uranus. The following year, William was appointed as astronomer to King George III and was granted a royal pension. Caroline worked with him to keep his records.
Whenever William was away, Caroline took the opportunities to make her own observations. In 1783 she discovered three new nebulae (hazy clouds where stars form). Today, these objects are know as NGC 2360, NGC 205, and NGC 253. On August 1, 1786, Caroline discovered her first comet.
This first discovery of a comet by a woman brought Caroline to the attention of the world. In 1787 King George III gave Caroline a £50 per year salary to continue as William's assistant. With this step, she became the first woman officially recognized for a scientific position.
Although Caroline continued to work as William's assistant, she also began to do more independent work. By 1797 she had discovered seven more comets. Her second comet is now known as periodic comet Herschel-Rigollet and returns every 155 years. Besides her comet hunting, Caroline also began re-cataloging Flamsteed's star catalog and submitted it to the Royal Society in 1798, along with another 560 stars which Flamsteed had omitted. After William died in 1822, Caroline returned to Hannover and completed William's catalogue of 2500 nebulae.
Shortly thereafter, she received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society on February 8, 1828. She went on to receive other honors including becoming the first woman to receive honorary membership into Britain's Royal Society in 1835, election into the Royal Irish Academy in 1838, and awarded the Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia in 1846 on her 96th birthday.
Caroline wrote her own epitaph, which was engraved on her tombstone upon her death on January 9, 1848. It reads, "The eyes of her who is glorified here below turned to the starry heavens." In 1889, Caroline received a final honor for her achievements when a minor planet was named "Lucretia," her middle name.
