Caroline Herschel

Born in Hanover in 1750, Caroline Herschel followed her brother William to England and began as his assistant in astronomy, grinding mirrors and logging observations. But she swept the sky herself and discovered several comets, including one that still carries her name: 35P/Herschel–Rigollet. In 1787 she became the first woman to draw a salary as a scientist and the first to hold a government position in England. She published in the Philosophical Transactions, won the Royal Astronomical Society's Gold Medal in 1828, and in 1835 became its first female honorary member alongside Mary Somerville…