Top > In the News... > Maria Mitchell at 200
by Ed Hessler, posted on 6:24 PM, August 7, 2018
The journal Nature has published an interesting biography of Maria Mitchell, the first woman to become a professional astronomer in the US.
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Ed Hessler recommends a short biography of Maria Mitchell (August 1, 1818 to June 28, 1889), the first woman in the United States to become a professional astronomer. Written by British biographer Richard Holmes on the occasion of her bicentennial, it celebrates an extraordinary life.
Mitchell's legacy, as Holmes notes, is one "to reckon with." Proto-feminist, scientist, teacher, field worker. The essay is peppered with memorable quotes.
--On spectroscopy: The astronomer breaks up the starlight just as the geologist breaks up the rock with his hammer; and with similar results, he finds copper, sodium and other elements n sun and stars.
--On knowing: We cannot accept anything as granted beyond the first mathematical formulae. Question everything else.
It was published in Nature.
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