36. Music and Stars

Short Stories
of Science and Invention

A Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering

Weekly, from September 1942 to July 1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the radio broadcasts of the General Motors Symphony of the Air.

Kettering invented the first automobile self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory for General Motors.

These radio talks are a fascinating legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the war-time period in which they were written.

These web pages now preserve some of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks. (Reprint, March 1959)

36. Music and Stars
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering

      Recently we discussed an American contemporary of Beethoven - the famous statesman and scientist - Benjamin Franklin. Today, it might be appropriate to look at the career of one of the great men who lived in England at that time. The man is William Herschel who started as a skilled musician but became one of the most noted English scientists.

     Beethoven once said, "The barriers are not yet erected which can say to aspiring genius 'Thus far and no further'." And he might well have had Herschel in mind when he made this statement because it so aptly decribed the philosophy of the musician-scientist.

     Herschel's career began in Hanover, Germany about the middle of the 18th century. His father passed on to him two things - a musical training and a love of "natural philosophy" or science. William's skill as an oboe player won him a position in the Hanover Military Band and gave him an opportunity to visit England.

     Greatly impressed with that country, he left Hanover at the age of 19 to live in England so we next hear of him four years later as an organist in a church at Bath. It was here that he began to give music lessons - often spending as many as 15 hours a day teaching. In addition, he composed music and wrote anthems and psalms - all of which kept him well occupied.