Maria Mitchell

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Not to be confused with Maia Mitchell.

Maria Mitchell
Photograph of Maria Mitchell
Born(1818-08-01)August 1, 1818
Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJune 28, 1889(1889-06-28) (aged 70)
Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S.
Known for
  • Discovery of C/1847 T1
  • First female American professional astronomer
AwardsKing of Denmark's Cometary Prize Medal (1848)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
Institutions
Notable students
Signature

Maria Mitchell (

Miss Mitchell's Comet" in her honor.[3] She won a gold medal prize for her discovery, which was presented to her by King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1848. Mitchell was the first internationally known woman to work as both a professional astronomer and a professor of astronomy after accepting a position at Vassar College in 1865.[4][5] She was also the first woman elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[4][6]

Mitchell is the namesake of the Maria Mitchell Association, the Maria Mitchell Observatory, and the Maria Mitchell Aquarium.

Early years (1818–1846)

Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818, on the island of

Dolland telescopes.[7][8][10] Mitchell often assisted her father in his work with local seamen and in his observations of the night sky.[7]

Additionally, Nantucket's importance as a whaling port meant that wives of sailors were left for months, sometimes years, to manage affairs at home while their husbands were at sea, thus fostering an atmosphere of relative independence and equality for the women of the island.[11]

After attending Elizabeth Gardner small school as a young child, Mitchell enrolled in the North Grammar school, where her father was the first principal. When Maria Mitchell was 11 years old, her father founded his own school on Howard Street. There, she was a student and also a teaching assistant to her father.[12] In 1831, at the age of 12, Mitchell aided her father in calculating the exact moment of a solar eclipse.[13][7]

Photograph of Maria Mitchell by Julia Ward Howe, 1899[14]

William Mitchell's school closed, and afterwards she attended

racially segregated.[15]

In 1836, Mitchell began working as the first librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum, a position she held for 20 years.[15][16][6] The institution's limited operating hours enabled Mitchell to assist her father with a series of astronomical observations and geographical calculations for the United States Coast Survey and to continue her own education.[6][5] Mitchell and her father worked in a small observatory constructed on the roof of the Pacific Bank building with a four-inch equatorial telescope provided by the survey.[6][5] In addition to looking for nebulae and double stars, the pair produced latitudes and longitudes by calculating the altitudes of stars and the culminations and occultations of the Moon, respectively.[6]

In 1843, Mitchell converted to Unitarianism, although she did not physically attend a Unitarian Church until more than twenty years later. Her departure from the Quaker faith did not cause a break with her family, with whom she appears to have remained close.[17] Historians have limited knowledge about this period in Mitchell's life because few of her personal documents remain from before 1846. Members of the Mitchell family believed she destroyed many of her personal documents in order to keep them private, having witnessed personal papers blown through the street by the Great Fire of 1846, and because fear of another fire persisted.[18]

Discovery of "Miss Mitchell's Comet" (1847–1849)

At 10:50 pm on the night of October 1, 1847, Mitchell discovered Comet 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) using a Dollond refracting telescope with three inches of aperture and forty-six inch focal length.[19][20] She had noticed an unknown object flying through the sky in an area where she previously had not noticed any other activity and believed it to be a comet.[5] The comet later became known as "Miss Mitchell's Comet."[21][22] She published a notice of her discovery in Silliman's Journal in January 1848 under her father's name.[23] The following month, she submitted her calculation of the comet's orbit, ensuring her claim as the original discoverer.[23] Mitchell was celebrated at the Seneca Falls Convention for the discovery and calculation later that year.[23]

On October 6, 1848, Mitchell was awarded a gold medal prize for her discovery by King Christian VIII of Denmark.

Maria Margarethe Kirch
.

Mitchell's medal was inscribed with line 257 of Book I of Virgil's Georgics: "Non Frustra Signorum Obitus Speculamur et Ortus" (Not in vain do we watch the setting and the rising [of the stars]).[25] Though the award was sent via letter in 1848, Mitchell did not physically receive the award in Nantucket until March 1849.[26] She became the first American to receive this medal and the first woman to receive an award in astronomy.[27][28][26]

Intermediate years (1849–1864)

Woman looking up into a golden telescope, which is standing on a pedestal. She is wearing a black dress with long sleeves.
Portrait of Maria Mitchell by Herminia Borchard Dassel, ca. 1851

Mitchell became a celebrity following her discovery of the comet, with hundreds of newspaper articles written about her in the subsequent decade.[23][29] At her home in Nantucket, she entertained a number of prominent academics such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth.[5][30] In 1849, Mitchell accepted a computing and field research position for the U.S. Coast Survey undertaken at the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office.[31][8] Her work consisted of tracking the movements of the planets - particularly Venus - and compiling tables of their positions to assist sailors in navigation.[8] She joined the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850 and befriended many of its members, including the director of the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Henry.

Mitchell traveled to Europe in 1857. While abroad, Mitchell toured the observatories of contemporary European astronomers Sir John and Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville.[6] She also spoke with a number of natural philosophers including Alexander von Humboldt, William Whewell, and Adam Sedgewick before continuing her travels with Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family.[6] Mitchell never married, but remained close to her immediate family throughout her life, even living in Lynn, Massachusetts with her sister Kate and her family in 1888.[32]

Professorship at Vassar College (1865–1888)

Maria Mitchell (seated) inside the dome of the Vassar College Observatory, with her student Mary Watson Whitney (standing), circa 1877[33]

Though Mitchell did not have a college education, she was appointed professor of astronomy at Vassar College by its founder, Matthew Vassar, in 1865 and became the first female professor of astronomy.[31][14] Mitchell was the first person appointed to the faculty and was also named director of the Vassar College Observatory, a position she held for more than two decades.[34][33] Mitchell also edited the astronomical column of Scientific American during her professorship.[6] Thanks in part to Mitchell's guidance, Vassar College enrolled more students in mathematics and astronomy than Harvard University from 1865 to 1888.[24] In 1869, Mitchell became one of the first women elected to the American Philosophical Society, alongside Mary Somerville and Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz. She received honorary doctorates from Hanover College,[35] Columbia University,[36] and Rutgers Female College.[37]

Mitchell employed many unconventional teaching methods in her classes. She reported neither grades nor absences, advocated for small classes and individualized attention, and incorporated technology and mathematics into her lessons.[14] Though her students' career options were limited by their gender, she emphasized the importance of their study of astronomy. "I cannot expect to make astronomers," she said to her students, "but I do expect that you will invigorate your minds by the effort at healthy modes of thinking. When we are chafed and fretted by small cares, a look at the stars will show us the littleness of our own interests."[38]

Mitchell's research interests were varied. She photographed planets such as

star color variation.[39]

Maria Mitchell inside the Vassar College Observatory, 1878

Mitchell often involved her students with her astronomical observations in both the field and the Vassar College Observatory.

Who's Who in America.[14]

After teaching at Vassar for some time, Mitchell discovered that she was being paid less than many younger male professors. Mitchell and Alida Avery, the only other woman on the faculty at that time, demanded a salary increase, which they received.[40][41][42] She taught at the college until her retirement in 1888, one year before her death.

Social activism

In 1841, Mitchell attended the

boycotting clothes made of Southern cotton.[17] She later became involved in a number of social issues as a professor, particularly those pertaining to women's suffrage and education.[4] She also befriended various suffragists including Elizabeth Cady Stanton. After returning from a trip to Europe in 1873, Mitchell joined the national women's movement and helped found the Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW), a group dedicated to educational reform and the promotion of women in higher education.[6] Mitchell addressed the Association's First Women's Congress in a speech titled The Higher Education of Women in which she described the work of English women working for access to higher education at Girton College, Cambridge.[4][6]

Mitchell advocated for women working part-time while studying to make them more independent, as well as to increase their skills.

school boards.[4][6] Mitchell served as the second president of the AAW in 1875 and 1876 before stepping down to head a special Committee on Science to analyze and promote women's progress in the field.[4][6] She held this position until her death in 1889.[4][6]

Death and legacy

brain disease on June 28, 1889, in Lynn, Massachusetts at the age of 70. She was buried in Lot 411, in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket.[44][45] The Maria Mitchell Association was established to promote the sciences on Nantucket and preserve the legacy Mitchell's work.[6] The Association operates a Natural History museum, an Aquarium, a Science Library and Research Center, Maria Mitchell's Home Museum, and an Observatory named in her honor, the Maria Mitchell Observatory.[46]

In 1989, Mitchell was named a

National Women's History Project and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.[34] She was the namesake of a World War II Liberty ship, the SS Maria Mitchell, and New York's Metro North commuter railroad (with its Hudson Line endpoint in Poughkeepsie near Vassar College) has a train named the Maria Mitchell Comet. A crater on the Moon was also named in her honor.[6] On August 1, 2013, the search engine Google honored Maria Mitchell with a Google Doodle showing her in cartoon form on top of a roof gazing through a telescope in search of comets.[47][48][49]

Her unique place at the intersection of American science and culture has been captured in a number of recent publications.[50][51]

Publications

During her life, Mitchell published seven items in the

Century, and The Atlantic.[6]

See also

References

  1. YouTube
  2. ^ "About Maria Mitchell | Maria Mitchell Association". Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  3. ^ "Maria Mitchell Biography". Biography. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  4. ^
    OCLC 750454272.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  5. ^
    OCLC 215036114
    .
  6. ^
    OCLC 644247606.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  7. ^
    OCLC 644247606.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-8028-5264-5
    .
  9. OCLC 137222064
    .
  10. ^ "Maria Mitchell". 5.uua.org. Archived from the original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
  11. ISBN 0807848700
    .
  12. ^ Among The Stars: The Life of Maria Mitchell. Mill Hill Press, Nantucket, MA. 2007
  13. ^ Gormley, Beatrice. Maria Mitchell: The Soul of an Astronomer. Eerdmans Publishing Co, MI. 1995.
  14. ^ a b c d e Howe, Julia Ward. [https://archive.org/details/reminiscences18100howe_0 Reminiscences, 1819 – 2020 ], Houghton Mifflin Company, 1900.
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-0807021422
    .
  16. ISBN 9780415920407
    . Professional experience: Nantucket Atheneum, librarian (1836–1856)
  17. ^ a b c "Sweeper in the Sky". digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  18. ISBN 978-0-8070-2142-2
    . Great Fire of 1846 and seeing personal documents
  19. ^ Tappan, Eva March, Heroes of Progress: Stories of Successful Americans, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1921. Cf.pp.54–60
  20. ^ AJS, 2nd Ser., v. 5, 1848, p. 83, Wm. Mitchell, On the Comet of October 1, 1847.
  21. ^ Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters, and Journals, compiled by Phebe Mitchell Kendall, 1896, p. 9 & 19.
  22. ISBN 0-8028-5264-5
    .
  23. ^ a b c d e "Miss Maria Mitchell and the King of Denmark". The National Era (newspaper), March 22, 1849". Retrieved August 4, 2013.
  24. ^ a b "Maria Mitchell's Gold Medal – Maria Mitchell Association". www.mariamitchell.org.
  25. ^ "P. Vergilius Maro, Georgics, Book 1, line 257". Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  26. ^ a b "Celebrating Maria Mitchell and Her Legacy". Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  27. ISSN 2469-7265
    . Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  28. ISSN 2471-6707
    . Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  29. ISBN 9780807021422
    .
  30. ISBN 978-0-8070-2142-2
    .
  31. ^
    JSTOR 364590
    .
  32. ISBN 0802852645
    .
  33. ^ a b Tappan, Eva March, Heroes of Progress: Stories of Successful Americans, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1921. Cf.pp.54–60
  34. ^ a b "Biographies". National Women's History Project. August 1, 2017.
  35. ^ "Sweeper in the Sky". digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  36. ^ "Columbia's "Fair Doctors" – News from Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library". blogs.cul.columbia.edu. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  37. ^ "Addresses at the commencement of Rutgers Female College, New York City, on conferring the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Thomas C. Upham, and of Doctor in Science and Philosophy upon Maria Mitchell". Women Working, 1800-1930 - CURIOSity Digital Collections. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  38. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter M" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  39. ^ a b c d "Maria Mitchell Discovers a Comet". This Month in Physics History. American Physical Society. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  40. ^ "Maria Mitchell Salary Dispute". Vassar Encyclopedia. Vassar College. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  41. ISBN 978-1-60732-207-8
    .
  42. ISBN 978-0-8018-2509-5
    .
  43. ^ "Maria Mitchell and Women's Rights – Vassar College Encyclopedia – Vassar College". vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  44. ^ "Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, Massachusetts". Prospecthillcemetery.com. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
  45. ^ "Maria Mitchell – Retirement and a Return to Lynn". Maria Mitchell Association. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  46. Bibcode:2001JAVSO..30...62H
    .
  47. ^ "Maria Mitchell's 195th Birthday". Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  48. ^ Khan, Amina (August 1, 2013). "Google doodle: Maria Mitchell, first pro female astronomer in U.S." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  49. ^ Barber, Elizabeth (August 1, 2013). "Google Doodle honors Maria Mitchell, first American female astronomer (+video)". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  50. ISBN 978-1524748135
    .
  51. ISBN 978-1-4814-8759-7. Retrieved March 7, 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help
    )

Online sources

Library resources about
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By Maria Mitchell

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External links

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