A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering Beethoven once said, "The barriers are not yet erected which can say to aspiring genius 'Thus far and no further'." And he might well have had Herschel in mind when he made this statement because it so aptly decribed the philosophy of the musician-scientist. Herschel's career began in Hanover, Germany about the middle of the 18th century. His father passed on to him two things - a musical training and a love of "natural philosophy" or science. William's skill as an oboe player won him a position in the Hanover Military Band and gave him an opportunity to visit England. Greatly impressed with that country, he left Hanover at the age of 19 to live in England so we next hear of him four years later as an organist in a church at Bath. It was here that he began to give music lessons - often spending as many as 15 hours a day teaching. In addition, he composed music and wrote anthems and psalms - all of which kept him well occupied. |