Sarah Salmond’s interest in astronomy transcended the boundaries of a mere hobby. In December 1874 several American scientists had come to Queenstown to observe the transit of Venus across the solar disc. Sarah Salmond, convinced that this event should be remembered, lobbied for years to have a plaque erected on the site of the observation.
Elisabeth Catherina Koopmann-Hevelius was an early female astronomer in the 1600s and worked wwith her husband and fellow astronomer Johannes Hevelius.
Elisabeth Koopmann was born a member of a wealthy merchant family in Danzig (Gdańsk). Fascinated with astronomy from childhood, she approached Hevelius because he was an internationally renowned astronomer whose complex of three houses in Danzig contained the best observatory in the world. When they married in 1663, Elisabeth was 16 and Hevelius was 52. She was able to to pursue her own interest in astronomy by helping him manage his observatory. Following Hevelius’s death in 1687, she completed and published Prodromus astronomiae in 1690, their jointly compiled catalogue of 1,564 stars and their positions. Published with support from King Sobieski, the work consisted of three parts: a preface (labeled Prodromus), a star catalog (named Catalogus Stellarum), and an atlas of constellations (named Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive Uranographia), with an outline of the methodology and technology used to create the star catalogue. Each star had specific information recorded in columns: the reference number and magnitude found by astronomer Tycho Brahe, Johannes’ own magnitude calculation, the star’s longitude and latitude by both ecliptic coordinates measured by angular distances and meridian altitudes, and the star’s equatorial coordinates calculated using spherical trigonometry.
Although the observations in the catalogue used only the astronomer’s naked eye, the measurements were so precise, they were used in the making of celestial globes into the early 1700s.
Known as the “census taker of the sky,” Annie Jump Cannon was a brilliant astronomer that revolutionized the way scientists classify stars. Not only did she develop the important Harvard spectral system, she also classified about 350,000 stars manually. She became the first woman to receive a Doctor of Astronomy degree from Groningen University, the first woman ever to receive an honorary degree from Oxford University, and in 1931 she became the first woman to be awarded the Henry Draper Medal of honor from the National Academy of Sciences.
The first female astronomer in the United States, Maria Mitchell was also the first American scientist to discover a comet, which brought her international acclaim. Additionally, she was an early advocate for science and math education for girls and the first female astronomy professor.
Nancy Grace Roman is an astronomer who was the first women executive at the US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She is known as the “Mother of Hubble” for her contributions in establishing the Hubble Space Telescope, and has been an outspoken advocate for women in the sciences throughout her career.
Although Roman showed interest and talent in the sciences from an early age, like so many women she was discouraged by teachers at all levels who thought women shouldn’t study science. Despite this, Roman earned a Bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Swarthmore College in 1946, and finished her PhD in astronomy at the University of Chicago in 1949, where she stayed on for six years working as a researcher and instructor, eventually leaving because of the limited opportunities for women.
Roman worked at the Naval Research Laboratory before being hired by newly formed NASA in 1959 to build the organization’s astronomy program. Roman worked at NASA for 21 years, then worked as a consultant for companies contracted with NASA. She fully retired in 1997, and began extensive volunteer work, such as leading science programs in underserved Washington, D.C. schools.
Roman discovered the first clues to the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, mapped the sky and helped improve the accuracy of measurements of the distance of the moon. Roman led a NASA program that launched more than 20 satellites and 3 orbiting solar observatories. She laid the early groundwork for the Hubble Space Telescope, creating the program’s structure, recruiting astronomers, and lobbying Congress for funding. Her many awards and honors include The Federal Woman’s Award (1962), NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award (1969), and a NASA fellowship in astrophysics is named in her honor.
Aglaonice is considered the first female astronomer in ancient Greece, regarded for her knowledge of the moon and its cycles. Plutarch wrote that she was “thoroughly acquainted with the periods of the full moon when it is subject to eclipse, and, knowing beforehand the time when the moon was due to be overtaken by the earth’s shadow, imposed upon the women, and made them all believe that she was drawing down the moon.”