The 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) "The king of the mountain", Sky and Telescope, April 1997.

1738	William Herschel born in Hanover 15th November
1757	Herschel emigrates to Britain
1766	Herschel hired as organist at Octagon Chapel in Bath
1772	Herschel joined at Bath by sister Caroline; astronomical work begins in earnest
1774	Herschel builds a 1-m reflecting telescope
1781	Herschel discovers Uranus, attempts to name it after George III Rewarded with royal patronage (but never Astronomer Royal)
1780s	Herschel discovers nature of nebulae. Pioneering work on structure of Universe
1970	Anglo Australian Telescope (AAT) being built; astronomers thinking about Northern Hemisphere Observatory
1974	AAT finished; the Scientific and Engineering Research Council (SERC) plans a 4-m telescope
1979	Price tag now £18M, risk of cancellation. Redesigned for £10M
1981	Dutch buy 20%. 200th anniversary of discovery of Uranus, SERC names WHT, places contract
1983	Construction of building begins
1985	Telescope shipped to La Palma
1987	First light 1st June with TAURUS-2 instrument

William Herschel was a German-born musician, who emigrated to Britain at the age of 19 in 1757. His serious astronomical work began in the town of Bath at the age of 35, with the enthusiastic help of his sister Caroline. He never had any formal scientific training. He couldn't afford the refracting telescopes used then by professionals, so taught himself to grind mirrors. He was a skilled and much-admired builder of telescopes, the largest being a 1.2-m reflector completed in the 1770s. He pioneered the kind of fork mounting used for the WHT. He is probably most famous for discovering the planet Uranus, the first new planet to be discovered since ancient times. He attempted to name the planet after George III, and this flattery earned him the title King's Astronomer (although he never became Astronomer Royal). Herschel realised that some of the 'nebulae' were enormous clouds of stars like our own galaxy. He published a number of papers on the evolution of the Universe from a hypothetical uniform initial state to one in which stars were clumped into galaxies. This evolution remains a central problem in cosmology (and one on which much WHT dark time is expended).

 The WHT's conception dates back to the late 1960s, when the Anglo-Australian Telescope (finished 1974) was being designed. Astronomers wondered what telescopes of comparable power they should build in the Northern Hemisphere. They settled on a suite of three: a 1.5-m, the 2.5-m from Herstmonceux (INT) and a 4.5-m. There was particularly strong pressure from the radio astronomy groups in Cambridge and Jodrell Bank for a powerful instrument which they could use to follow up their discoveries of optically very faint galaxies in the Northern Hemisphere. SERC started to lay plans for the WHT in 1974. In 1979, with a price tag of £18M, the project was on the verge of being scrapped. SERC set up a team to take another look at the design. They were able to cut the price of the telescope by £1M and the price of the building by £7M, by reducing the focal length of the main mirror and shrinking the dome, making the dome onion shaped (which allows for simpler shutters) and by lowering the telescope closer to ground level (turbulent air currents only rise about 3 m off the ground on La Palma). In 1981, SERC negotiated a 20% stake by the Dutch. That year was also the 200th anniversary of Herschel's discovery of Uranus, and the name of the new telescope was announced. First light was 1st June 1987, using the TAURUS-2 instrument.