William Herschel

William Herschel (1738-1822) was a German-born British astronomer and musician who is most famous for discovering the planet Uranus. He also discovered infrared radiation. The discovery of Uranus in 1781 came about as a result of improved telescopes and measuring devices that enabled him to predict where a new planet would be by observing irregularities in the orbits of others. Interestingly, since it is a long established convention that the discoverer of an astronomical object has the right to name it, Uranus should really be called Georgium Sidus ("George's Star"), the name Herschel gave to it, in honour of King George III.