Category Archives: Science > Astronomy

Margaret Harwood (March 19, 1885 – February 6, 1979) was an American astronomer, teacher, and the first director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory.

Maude Ryder worked at the Harvard College Observatory from approximately 1929 until at least 1941.

Naomi Kitay Greenstein (c 1910-2002) worked at the Harvard College Observatory from c. 1936-c. 1938 and was listed as a co-author in HCO publications as late as 1954. Her work focused on calculating light curves for variable stars.

Nettie A. Farrar Harris worked at the Harvard College Observatory from 1881-1885.1 She was the fifth woman computer to work at the HCO, and her work primarily involved using the glass plates to calculate relative magnitudes of stars and measure stellar spectra.

Priscilla Fairfield Bok worked at the Harvard College Observatory from 1923 to 1955. Her work focused on the stars and nebulae in the Milky Way galaxy, and she specialized in putting data from observations into mathematical form.

Margaret Walton Mayall was an American Astronomer and head of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) from 1949-1973.

Mary Doris Beach (née Applegate) (1896-1954) was an Academic Fellow and worked at the Harvard College Observatory from 1918-1921.

Mary Louise Miller Thorndike worked at the Harvard College Observatory from approximately 1926-1931 and 1934-1941.

Rebecca Jane Titsworth Rogers is counted among the Harvard College Observatory’s Women Astronomical Computers for her work in support of her husband’s astronomical work.