Maria Mitchell was an American
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, who in 1847, by using a
telescopeA telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
, discovered a
cometMiss Mitchell's Comet was a comet that was discovered by American astronomer Maria Mitchell. It was at first credited to Francesco de Vico who, although he discovered it two days later than she, was the first to report it in Europe, since he was observing from Rome...
which as a result became known as the "Miss Mitchell's Comet". She won a gold medal prize for her discovery which was presented to her by King
Frederick VII of DenmarkFrederick VII was a King of Denmark. He reigned from 1848 until his death. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and also the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch...
. The medal said “Not in vain do we watch the setting and rising of the stars”. Mitchell was the first American woman to work as a professional astronomer.
One of ten children, she was raised in the Quaker religion.
Early years
Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818, in
Nantucket, MassachusettsNantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...
, and was a first cousin of four removed of Benjamin Franklin. She had nine brothers and sisters. Her parents, William Mitchell and Lydia Coleman Mitchell, were
QuakerThe Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
s. Maria Mitchell was born into a community unusual for its time in regard to equality for women. Her parents, like other Quakers, valued education and insisted on giving her the same quality of education that boys received. The Quaker religion taught, among other things, intellectual equality between the sexes. Additionally, Nantucket's importance as a whaling port meant that wives of sailors were left for months and sometimes years to manage affairs while their husbands were at sea, thus fostering an atmosphere of relative independence and equality for the women who called the island home. In spite of this, the women of Nantucket still lacked the right to own property or to vote, among other things.
After attending Elizabeth Gardener's small school in her earliest childhood years, Maria attended the North Grammar school, where William Mitchell was the first principal. Two years following the founding of that school, when Maria was eleven, her father built his own school on Howard Street. There, she was a student and also a teaching assistant to her father. At home, Maria's father taught her astronomy using his personal telescope. At age twelve and a half, she aided her father in calculating the exact moment of annular eclipse.
Her father's school closed, and afterwards she attended Unitarian minister
Cyrus PeirceCyrus Peirce , American educator and Unitarian minister, was the founding president of the first American public normal school, which evolved into Framingham State University.-Early life:...
's school for young ladies. Later she worked for Peirce as his teaching assistant before she opened her own school in 1835. One year later, she was offered a job as the first librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum where she worked for eighteen years.
Comet discovery
Using a telescope, she discovered the "Miss Mitchell's Comet" (Comet 1847 VI, modern designation is
C/1847 T1Miss Mitchell's Comet was a comet that was discovered by American astronomer Maria Mitchell. It was at first credited to Francesco de Vico who, although he discovered it two days later than she, was the first to report it in Europe, since he was observing from Rome...
) in the autumn of 1847. Some years previously, King
Frederick VI of DenmarkFrederick VI reigned as King of Denmark , and as king of Norway .-Regent of Denmark:Frederick's parents were King Christian VII and Caroline Matilda of Wales...
had established gold medal prizes to each discoverer of a "telescopic comet" (too faint to be seen with the
naked eyeThe naked eye is a figure of speech referring to human visual perception unaided by a magnifying or light-collecting optical device, such as a telescope or microscope. Vision corrected to normal acuity using corrective lenses is considered "naked"...
). The prize was to be awarded to the "first discoverer" of each such comet (note that comets are often independently discovered by more than one person). She duly won one of these prizes, and this gave her worldwide fame, since the only previous woman to discover a
cometA comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
had been
Caroline HerschelCaroline Lucretia Herschel was a German-British astronomer, the sister of astronomer Sir Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel with whom she worked throughout both of their careers. Her most significant contribution to astronomy was the discovery of several comets and in particular the periodic comet...
.
There was a temporary question of priority because
Francesco de VicoFather Francesco de Vico was an Italian astronomer at Vatican Observatory, and also a Jesuit priest. His name is also written De Vico and even DeVico....
had independently discovered the same comet two days later, but had reported it first; however, this was resolved in Mitchell's favor. The prize was awarded in 1848 by the new king
Frederick VIIFrederick VII was a King of Denmark. He reigned from 1848 until his death. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and also the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch...
.
Career
She became the first woman member of the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1848 and of the
American Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
in 1850. She later worked at the U.S.
Nautical Almanac OfficeNautical Almanac Office can refer to:* HM Nautical Almanac Office in the United Kingdom* The Nautical Almanac Office at the United States Naval Observatory...
, calculating tables of positions of
VenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
, and traveled in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
with
Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
and his family.
She became professor of astronomy at Vassar College in 1865, the first person (male or female) appointed to the faculty. She was also named as Director of the
Vassar College ObservatoryThe Vassar College Observatory is located near the eastern edge of the Poughkeepsie, New York college's campus. Finished in 1865, it was the first building on the college's campus, older even than the Main Building, with which it shares the status of National Historic Landmark...
. After teaching there for some time, she learned that despite her reputation and experience, her salary was less than that of many younger male professors. She insisted on a salary increase, and got it.
Efforts
In 1842, she left the
QuakerThe Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
faith and followed
UnitarianUnitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
principles. In protest against
slaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, she stopped wearing clothes made of
cottonCotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
. She was friends with various
suffragistWomen's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
s such as
Elizabeth Cady StantonElizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
and co-founded the American Association for the Advancement of Women. She was the first woman elected to the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
and as one of the first women elected to the
American Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
(1869, at this identical meeting Mary Fairfax Somerville and Elizabeth Cabot Carey Agassiz were also elected).
Legacy
She died on June 28, 1889, at the age of 70, in
Lynn, MassachusettsLynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
. She was buried in Lot 411, Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket. The
Maria Mitchell ObservatoryThe Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA, was founded in 1908 and named in honor of American astronomer Maria Mitchell. It is a major component of the Maria Mitchell Association...
in Nantucket is named in her honor. The Observatory is part of the
Maria Mitchell AssociationThe Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization on the island of Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts. The association owns the Maria Mitchell Observatory, a second observatory , a Natural History Museum, an aquarium at Nantucket Harbor, a history museum that is the...
in Nantucket, which aims to preserve the sciences on the Island. It operates a Natural History Museum, Maria Mitchell's Home Museum, and the Science Library as well as the Observatory. She was also posthumously inducted into the U.S.
National Women's Hall of FameThe National Women's Hall of Fame is an American institution. It was created in 1969 by a group of people in Seneca Falls, New York, the location of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention...
. She was the namesake of a
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Liberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
, the
SS Maria Mitchell. The crater
MitchellMitchell may refer to:* B-25 Mitchell, an American World War II-era bomber aircraft* Billy Mitchell Award, a Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program award* Mitchell , an automobile built in Racine, Wisconsin from 1903-1923...
on the Moon is named after her. In 1902, the Maria Mitchell Association was founded in her memory. She is also known for her famous quote, "We have a hunger of the mind. We ask for all of the knowledge around us and the more we get, the more we desire."
In 1905, Mitchell was inducted into the
Hall of Fame for Great AmericansThe Hall of Fame for Great Americans is the original hall of fame in the United States. "Fame" here means "renown"...
in the Bronx, New York.
Online sources
Book sources
- Kendall, Phebe Mitchell. Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals. Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1896. (out of print; compiled by her sister)
- M. W. Whitney, In Memoriam, (Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1889)
- M. K. Babbitt, Maria Mitchell as her students Knew her, (Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1912)
- Albers, Henry editor "Maria Mitchell, A Life in Journals and Letters" College Avenue Press, Clinton Corners, NY, 2001. (Henry Albers was the Fifth Maria Mitchell Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College.)
- Torjesen, Elizabeth Fraser, Comet Over Nantucket: Maria Mitchell and Her Island: The Story of America's First Woman Astronomer, (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1984)
- Renée Bergland, Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer Among the American Romantics, Beacon Press, Boston, 2008.
- Wright, Helen, Sweeper in the Skies: The Life of Maria Mitchell, (College Avenue Press, Clinton Corners,NY,1997.ISBN 1-883551-70-6. (Commemorative Edition of 1949 edition. Wright was born in Washington,DC and served as assistant in Astronomy Dept. at Vassar and later US Naval Observatory and Mt. Wilson Observatory.Wrote bios of Geo. Hale and Palomar Observatory & w. Harold Shapley co-ed of Treasury of Science)
External links