Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer who later became
the first professor at Vassar
College and the first
director of the Vassar Observatory.
Early Life
Maria Salmon Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818 in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
She was one of ten children born to William Mitchell and Lydia Coleman
Mitchell, both Quakers. Like other Quakers, Mitchell's parents valued education
for all of their children, highlighting the intellectual equality between the
genders.
Mitchell attended North
Grammar school, where her
father was the first principal. When Maria was eleven, her father built his own
school where she became a student and teaching assistant. Her father encouraged
her pursuits in and out of the classroom. At home, he taught Maria astronomy
using his own telescope. When she was twelve, Mitchell helped her father
calculate the exact moment of annular eclipse.
After her father's school closed, Mitchell attended the Pierce School
for Ladies until she decided to operate her own school from 1835-36.
Miss Mitchell's Comet
In 1836, Mitchell was
hired as the first librarian at the Nantucket Atheneum, where she pursed her
studies in languages, mathematics, and navigation. During this time, she and
her father made observations of the stars, assisting in navigational
timekeeping on the coast of Nantucket.
On October 1, 1847, Mitchell observed a star five degrees
above the North Start – a spot where no star had been seen previously. Thinking
it might be a comet, Mitchell recorded the coordinates and checked back the
next day. Sure enough, the "star" had moved again, thus confirming that it was actually
a comet. Her father wrote to Professor William Bond at the Harvard University Observatory
about Maria's discovery. Bond then submitted her name to the King of Denmark,
who offered a gold medal for the discovery of a comet through a telescope.
Unfortunately, Father Francesco de Vico of Rome discovered the same comet two days after
Mitchell and the decision to give him the medal had already been decided before
news of Mitchell's discovery. After some negotiations, the medal was ultimately
given to Mitchell a year later. The comet was named "Miss Mitchell's Comet" or
C/1847 T1.
Curiosity Over a
Female Astronomer
After her discovery, Mitchell continued to work as a
librarian. At the same time, she was receiving letters of congratulations from
scientists and tourists who had become interested in seeing a woman astronomer.
In 1848, Mitchell became the first woman member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences.
A year later, Mitchell was offered a job by the United
States Nautical Almanac Office. Her position would be as a computer for tables
and positions of the planet Venus. This job also allowed her to travel for
scientific meetings. During this time, in 1850, the Association for the
Advancement of Science also inducted Mitchell as a member.
Seeing the World
In 1856, a wealthy Chicago
banker named General H. K. Swift offered Mitchell a chance to accompany his
daughter Prudence through the American West and South, and to Europe.
Mitchell agreed to the trip, but also took her Nautical Almanac work with her.
The duo traveled to southward to New
Orleans, and continued to London
from there. While in London,
Mitchell visited the Greenwich Observatory.
Eventually, Prudence returned to the States, but Mitchell stayed in Europe. She traveled next to France
on her own, and then to Rome
with Nathaniel Hawthorne's family.
Mitchell had hoped to visit the Vatican Observatory in Rome, but was told that it
did not admit women. She tried to receive a special permission, and was
eventually allowed to visit in the daytime. This, however, did not allow her to
see the stars of night.
When Maria Mitchell retuned to the United States, she was presented a new telescope
bought with money collected from women, to honor the first woman astronomer of
the United States.
Achievements and
Recognitions
In 1865, Maria Mitchell became the first professor of
astronomy and director of the observatory at Vassar
College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
As director, Mitchell used a twelve-inch telescope – the third largest in the U.S.
Mitchell invited her students to the observatory to watch meteor showers and
other astronomical events.
When not teaching, Mitchell continued researching the
surface features of Jupiter and Saturn. She also photographed stars.
In 1869, Mitchell was elected into the American
Philosophical Society. Four years later, she helped found the American
Association for the Advancement of Women; she served as the organization's
president until from 1874-1876. In the year of the organization's establishment,
Mitchell also attended the first meeting of the Women's Congress. This session
was also attended by activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.
Maria Mitchell retired from Vassar College
in 1888 due to poor health. She died on June 28, 1889 in Lynn, Massachusetts.
After her death, her friends and supporters founded the
Maria Mitchell Foundation on Nantucket in
1902. In 1905, she was elected into the Hall of Fame of Great Americans at New York University. In 1994, Mitchell was
elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
Resources:
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/mitchell.html
http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/mariamitchell.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Mitchell
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