William Herschel

This book was first published in 1961 under the title "Wilhelm Herschel - Leben und Werk". Günther Buttmann has written the first comprehensive German biography of the famous German-born astronomer, who spent most of his life in England. The book also covered the immense astronomical work of William Herschel (1738-1822), assisted by his talented sister Caroline and continued by his son John. In 1781 Herschel famously discovered the planet Uranus, and over decades of observations with large, self-constructed telescopes, he found about 2500 nebulae and star clusters, many double stars and determined the structure of the Milky Way. This important book has now been translated by the German astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Wolfgang Steinicke, with Günther Buttmann's blessings. It is unfortunate though that the original author passed away in Spring 2023 and was unable to see the English edition of his work.

Günther Buttmann was born in 1929 in Solln, a suburb of Munich, Germany. As a librarian, he worked in various departments of the Bavarian State Library. His interest in science, primarily astronomy, was awakened at an early age which he studied throughout his life. His publications on William and John Herschel document this interest, as does his biographical work on the geographer Friedrich Ratzel. Günther Buttmann was married with three sons and lived in Stockdorf near Munich until his death in April 2023.