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When did William Herschel become an astronomer to King George III?
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William Herschel
Sir William Herschel, detail of an oil painting by L. Abbott, 1785; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
William Herschel was appointed as an astronomer to King George III in 1782.1
Following his discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781, Herschel gained significant scientific recognition. With the assistance of his friend Dr. William Watson, Jr., he secured an annual pension of £200 from the King, which allowed him to abandon his career in music and dedicate himself exclusively to astronomy. Upon this appointment, he and his sister, Caroline Herschel, relocated to Datchet, near Windsor Castle.1