Transcript: William Herschel was born in 1738 in Germany to a musical family. He was a professional musician himself. He deserted the German army during the seven years war and made his way to England where he became the organist in the cathedral in Bath. While studying music and building his own musical instruments he read books by Robert Smith on musical harmony, then on mathematics, and then on astronomy which attracted his interest in that subject. Working with his sister Caroline he beautifully hand-crafted telescopes from wood and brass and observed every clear night. A self-taught astronomer, he avidly watched the sky every clear night of the year including the winter, often working in temperatures so cold that he had to break the ice on his inkwell to make his notes. He discovered Uranus and set the stage for the understanding of the nebulae. With a grant from King George III he built larger and larger telescopes culminating in a telescope of 1.2 meters aperture, the largest telescope for another century.