14 billion years ago, the universe was packed up in one single point, scientists call this moment in time The Big Bang. This is a widely accepted theory, which has been postulated due to the assistance of many scientists. One of the major contributors to this discovery, and not given enough credit for it in the present are an association of several dozen women ‘computers’ who laid down the most basic assumptions of astronomy.
At the observatory at Harvard in Massachusetts, there was a team of women skilled in processing astronomical data. Edward Charles Pickering, the director of Harvard College at the time, assembled an organisation of women.
The members would work 6 days a week, calculating temperatures and motion of stars at very low wages. They moulded the emerging field of astrophysics with their spectral analysis of stars, soon they being were recognised as the ‘Harvard computers’. Their efforts created opportunities for women who would work in computers, astrophysics and engineering.
“Pickering’s focus on photography had created a new source material for the ladies, in the form of glass photographic plates. The women worked, usually in pairs, with one partner looking at a plate and speaking aloud her findings to the other, who recorded them in a notebook. The women’s work entailed computing the actual positions and brightness of individual stars by applying mathematical formulae to the nightly notations made by the male observers. With the glass plates, they could discover new stars. Even if they are unsung heroes at present, in their own time they weren’t unsung at all.”
–Dava Sobel
Author of The Glass Universe
Let’s dive into the history behind these amazing women starting with their names. Anna Winlock, Selina Bond, Nettie A. Farrar, Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Antonia Maury, Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Mary Anna Palmer Draper, Florence Cushman, Muriel Mussells Seyfert were notable members.
ANNA WINLOCK
Mathematical astronomer
Anna Winlock’s development in the scientific field and her contributions to the stellar program of the observatory set an example for society, proving that women are equally capable of executing astronomical work.
Contributions:
- She reduced decades worth of observational data which her father had left unfinished.
- She took part in computing and reducing the Meridian circle observations.
- Collaborated with foreign observatories to prepare a comprehensive star catalogue. She worked on the section called Cambridge zone.
- Supervised the creation of Observational Annals into 38 volumes.
- Winlock also contributed to the Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog listign 200,000 stars down to the ninth magnitude.
- Collaborated with foreign observatories to prepare a comprehensive star catalogue. She worked on the section called Cambridge zone.
- Supervised the creation of Observational Annals into 38 volumes.
Personal life:
One of the first members. After the sudden death of her father, Anna Winlock became the breadwinner of the family supporting her mother and 4 siblings. Her father had previously introduced to the principles of mathematical astronomy. She reduced decades worth of observational data which her father had left unfinished. She took part in computing and reducing the Meridian circle observations, collaborated with foreign observatories to prepare a comprehensive star catalogue.
She did arduous work at less than half the prevailing wages of her position.
MURIEL MUSSELLS SEYFERT
Astronomer
Muriel Elizabeth Mussels Seyfert, a jack of all trades, worked as a Human-computer at the Harvard Observatory.
Contributions:
She discovers three Planetary ( Ring ) nebulae in the Milky way, tremendous rings of stardust a hundred times bigger than our solar system, in the mid-1930s. She made her discovery by examining plates at Harvard’s station in South Africa.
Personal life:
Mussells wasn’t just an amazing astronomer. After her marriage, along with work, she arranged a time for raising two kids and keeping an active art studio. She was also a renowned horse rider- equestrian.
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References:
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-women-who-mapped-the-universe-and-still-couldnt-get-any-respect-9287444/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/the-women-computers-who-measured-the-stars/509231/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Winlock
- https://dyer.vanderbilt.edu/sf040720/
Through my eyes 