Women have been influencing astronomys direction for hundreds of years many times they even have to fight against all odds to do something that was traditionally seen as a males job. Going back in history we will look at Hypatia, one of the first known women scientist and then fast forward a few hundred years taking a look at Maria Mitchell and Caroline Herschel. These three women mark some major milestones in womens advancements in astronomy. After them there are many more that follow.
Hypatia -
Hypatia is most well known as the first woman mathematician, however she made contributions to astronomy as well. Born in Alexandria, Egypt around 370 AD to the famous mathematician and philosopher Theon who guided her and encouraged her to pursue a career in science and caress her love of knowledge. Eventually Hypatia became the head of the Platonist school in Alexandria in 400 AD, where she lectured on math and philosophy. During this time Hypatia came to the symbol of leaning and science, which was seen by many Christians as a form of paganism. Most people know of Hypatia only because of her death. Hypatia was said to have been beaten to death in the streets by an angry mob that felt threatened by her work. Before Hypatia died she wrote commentaries on Ptolemy's astronomical works and she worked as an advisor on the construction of an astrolabe and a hydroscope. To read some of Hypatias works go to www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/ Mathematicians/Hypatia.html or to <http://poly.polyamory.org/~howard/Hypatia/>
Maria Mitchell -
Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Her father felt strongly that girls had the right to receive an education that was equal to that of a boys, which she did and by the time Maria was 16 she was a teaching assistant to a schoolmaster. By the age of 17 Maria decided to open up a school of her own, unfortunately it only lasted for a year when Maria took a job as the Nantuckets Athenaeum Librarys librarian. At this point Maria wasnt much involved in astronomy until her father built an observatory and installed a brand new four-inch telescope on the roof of his quarters. Marias father used the telescope to do star observations for the United States Coast Guard and Maria helped her father with the measurements.
On night in autumn of 1847, Maria made an amazing discovery. Maria noticed that she saw a star five degrees above the North Star where there had been no star before. It occurred to her that it might be a comet and after a few more nights of observations she was sure that it was as it continued to move each night. Marias father wrote to a professor at Harvard University about Marias discovery, which was than submitted to the King of Denmark who offered a gold metal to a person who discovers a comet seen only through a telescope, however another person discovered the comet tow days later and he was awarded the prize before news of Marias discovery even arrived in Europe. After some discussion Maria was awarded the metal and the comet is named Miss Mitchells Comet as well as being the first American to spot a comet. After this she received a great deal of fame for being a woman astronomer and in 1848 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences voted her the first woman member. The Association for the Advancement of Science followed suit and gave her membership in 1850. In 1849 Maria took a job with the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office as a computer or a person who does computations of tables and positions of Venus. The nest few years Maria did a great deal of traveling and was even granted special permission to visit the Vatican Observatory when women were not admitted.
When Maria returned home she bought a new telescope and used it to study sunspots and other astronomical events. In 1865 she became a professor of astronomy and director of the college observatory at Vassar College where she was the first woman on their faculty. Maria often invited her students to come up to the observatory at night and watch meteor showers or other astronomical events. Maria Mitchell continued her own research in studying the surface features of Jupiter and Saturn and photographing stars. In 1869 she was the first woman elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 1873, she helped found the American Association for the Advancement of Women and served as its president from 1874 to 1876. In 1873 she attended the first meeting of the Women's Congress. In 1878 Maria is also known to have chased down an eclipse in an attempt to better understand them she traveled 2000 miles.
Maria Mitchell retired from Vassar in 1888 due to poor health and on June 28, 1889 Maria passed away. After her death her friends and her supporters founded the Maria Mitchell Association in 1902, for more information on this go to www.mmo.org/ <http://www.mmo.org/> and in 1905 she was elected to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans. Just recently 1994, she was elected to the National Womens Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls. Maria was the first woman to open the doors in astronomy showing that woman were capable of great discovery just like men were. Maria laid the groundwork for the future of females in science. For more information on Maria Mitchell go to
www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/mitchell.htm <http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/mitchell.htm> or go to www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/pwwmh/ma74.htm <http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/pwwmh/ma74.htm>
Caroline Hershel -
Caroline Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany on March 16, 1750. She was the fifth of six children and as a young child she was ridden with disease. No one expected her to be much of anything except for a maid. Carolines favorite brother William had moved to England and he had vowed to save his little sisters life. William was a conductor and at the age of 22 he taught Caroline how to sing and she became well regarded throughout the opera houses in England. However, I am here to tell you about Carolines advances in Astronomy not in Music.
William was interested in astronomy and taught Caroline to be his assistant. Although Caroline never learned her multiplication tables she carried around a chart and she was the one who did the complicated calculations from her brothers observations. In 1781, William discovered Uranus and astronomy became his livelihood and Caroline stayed by his side. Caroline eventually started making her own observations. Her is a brief list of some of the things that she discovered:
1783 Discovered three nebulae
1786 August1, she discovers Comet Herschel
1787 King George III pays her to be her brother assistant
1788 December 21, discovers Comet Hershel-Rigollet
1790 January 7, April 18 and December 15 discovers three more comets
1797 August 14, discovers Comet Bouvard-Herschel
1799 The Royal Society publishes her star catalogs
In 1838 The Royal Astronomical Society awards her with the Gold Medal for cataloging 2,500 nebulae and then in 1832 the King of Denmark gives her another metal for her discoveries. In 1835 she is given honorary membership to the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1838 she is also given honorary membership to the Royal Irish Academy. In 1846 the King of Prussia awards her a gold medal for science saying, "in recognition of the valuable service rendered to astronomy by you, as the fellow worker of your immortal brother, wishes to convey to you in his name the Large Gold Medal for science." On January 9, 1848 Caroline dies in Hanover, Germany. For more information of Caroline please visit cannon.sfsu.edu/~gmarcy/cswa/history/herschel.html
