In every age of science, there are towering figures who "know" virtually everyone and influence research in a vast area of science. In early science, Mersenne held such a position, later it was the Secretary of the Royal Society, Flamsteed. The Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences played a similar role. Indeed, these positions at the institutional center of science continue to play a critical role. Today, it is the President of the National Academy of Sciences, the President's Science Advisor and, potentially, the Director of the National Science Foundation. This project, directed by Professors Michael Crowe and Barbara Turpin, is aimed at the preparation and publication of a calendar of the correspondence of one of these central figures in science, Sir John Herschel (1792-1871). Herschel personally made important contributions to astronomy, mathematics, physics, photochemistry, philosophy of science, and scientific organization. There are approximately 15,000 letters between Hershel and the leading scientists around the world from about 1820 to his death. The calendar will provide information on the name of the correspondent, date, location and repository identification mark and a brief summary (about 25 words) on each of the 15,000 letters. They will also prepare a biographical register of correspondents and of persons mentioned in the summaries, a name and subject index, and other supportive material. As the Calendar of the Darwin Correspondence has demonstrated, such a calendar for the major figures in science is an invaluable tool for historians, philosophers and social scientists who try to trace the development of science in the modern world.
