Women in Astronomy

Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide

by Andrew Fraknoi

(Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco)

[April 2019]

© copyright 2019 by Andrew Fraknoi. All rights reserved. For permission to use, or to suggest additional materials, please contact the author at e-mail: fraknoi {at} fhda {dot} edu

This guide to non-technical English-language materials is not meant to be a comprehensive or scholarly introduction to the complex topic of the role of women in astronomy. It is simply a resource for educators and students who wish to begin exploring the challenges and triumphs of women of the past and present. It’s also an opportunity to get to know the lives and work of some of the key women who have overcome prejudice and exclusion to make significant contributions to our field. We only include a representative selection of living women astronomers about whom non-technical material at the level of beginning astronomy students is easily available. Lack of inclusion in this introductory list is not meant to suggest any less importance. We also don’t include Wikipedia articles, although those are sometimes a good place for students to begin. Suggestions for additional non-technical listings are most welcome.

Women in Astronomy
Women In Astronomy.pngWomen in Astronomy

Women in Astronomy


Table of Contents:

1. Written Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy

2. Written Resources on Issues Women Face

3. Web Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy

4. Web Resources on the Issues Women Face

5. Material on Some Specific Women Astronomers of the Past:



Listed names of women astronomers of the past
Women Astronomers of the Past.pngListed names of women astronomers of the past

Listed names of women astronomers of the past








6. Material on a Few Specific Living Astronomers Who Are Women:


Listed names of living women astronomers
Living Women Astronomers.pngListed names of living women astronomers

Listed names of living women astronomers



7.  A Sampling of Articles/Books About Other Individual Women Astronomers


1.  Written Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. Covers the lives and careers of 21 women astronomers, past and present; written for teenagers and up. 

Bernardi, G. “Who Was the First Professional Woman Astronomer? Christine Kirch” in Sky & Telescope, Jan. 2019, p. 68. 

Dvorak, John “The Women Who Created Modern Astronomy” in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 2013, p. 28. Focuses on the work of Annie Cannon, Antonia Maury, and Wilhelmina Fleming in classifying and understanding stars. 

Ghez, Andrea & Cohen, Judith You Can Be a Woman Astronomer. 2006, Cascade Press. A picture book for children from grades 3 - 5. 

James, C. “Edward and Mina” in Astronomy, July 2002, p. 46. Despite the title, this treats several women who worked at the Harvard Observatory. 

Kidwell, Peggy "Women Astronomers in Britain" in Isis, Sep. 1984, vol. 75, p. 534. 

Lankford, John “Science and Gender: Women in the American Astronomical Community” in his American Astronomy. 1997, U. of Chicago Press. 72-page sociological overview, with statistics. Lankford, J. & Slavings, R. "Gender and Science: Women in American Astronomy 1859-1940" in Physics Today, Mar. 1990, vol. 43, p. 58. 

Mack, P. "Straying from Their Orbits: Women in Astronomy in America" in G. Kass-Simon & P. Farnes, eds. Women of Science. 1990, Indiana U. Press. 

Mack, P. "Strategies and Compromises: Women in Astronomy at Harvard College Observatory" in Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 21, p. 65 (1990). 

McKenna-Lawlor, Susan Whatever Shines Should be Observed. 2003, Springer. The story of five 19th century women who made contributions to astronomy and science; too bad the price from the publisher is inappropriately high for a popular book. 

Rizzo, P. "Early Daughters of Urania" in Sky & Telescope, Nov. 1954, p. 7. 

Rubin, Vera "Women's Work: Women in Modern Astronomy" in Science 86, Jul/Aug. 1986, p. 58. 

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Rich, deeply researched, marvelous book on the women who worked at Harvard at the start of the 20th century and changed the way we understood the stars. 

Spradley, J. "Women and the Stars" in The Physics Teacher, Sep. 1990, p. 372. Warner, Deborah "Women Astronomers" in Natural History, May 1979, p. 12.

2.  Written Resources on Issues Facing Women

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn “So Few Pulsars, So Few Females” in Science, 23 April 2004, vol. 304. no. 5670, p. 489.

Davenport, J., et al. “Studying Gender in [AAS] Conference Talks”: https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.3091

Geller, Margaret “The Black Ribbon” in Science, 28 August 1998, vol. 281 no. 5381 p. 1278. On-line at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/281/5381/1278.full

Kinney, Anne, et al, eds. Meeting the Challenges of an Increasingly Diverse Workforce: Women in Astronomy and Space Science. 2009, NASA. The entire book is available free on the web as a PDF file: https://cswa.aas.org/MEETING/WomeninAstroProceedings.pdf

Urry, C. Megan, et al, eds. Women in Astronomy: Proceedings of a 1992 Workshop. 1993, Space Telescope Science Institute. (Now on web at: http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/wia/ )

STATUS is the magazine of the Committee on the Status of Women of the American Astronomical Society (it is a treasure trove of materials, issues, personal stories): https://cswa.aas.org/STATUS.html

3. Web Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy

Bibliography by Ruth Freitag: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/womenastro/womenastro-intro.html

A far more comprehensive and scholarly bibliography, organized by last name, of written articles on women in astronomy. Ruth Freitag’s work was the early inspiration for the resource guide you are reading.

4000 Years of Women in Science: http://4kyws.ua.edu/

Maintained by two women astronomers, this site includes brief information on women from many fields of science, not just astronomy. For 20th century women scientists, see: http://4kyws.ua.edu/20th.century/20th.shtml

The Woman Astronomer: http://www.womanastronomer.com/

Debra Davis, a Colorado amateur astronomer, keeps this site and newsletter devoted to both amateurs and professionals.

Women at NASA: http://women.nasa.gov/

Profiles of women who work for the US Space Agency, including a number of astronomers and astrobiologists. The profiles include personal statements that can be quite moving and inspiring.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell (Oxford): “A Celebration of Women in Astronomy” (a talk in 2012 in Edinburgh; we only hear the audio, there is no video, but it is a fascinating public talk with profiles of specific women, including Caroline Herschel and Vera Rubin, and discussions of

trends): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_50PyimUE5s

Emily Rice (City University of New York) gives a talk on contributions of women to astronomy (with many historical and contemporary examples and an analysis of modern

trends): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vMR7su4fi8

Beverly J. Smith (East Tennessee State U.) gives a powerpoint presentation on the history of women in astronomy and current statistics about their participation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAa- gCSUwEE

Video of a 2017 talk by Mia Bovill on “The Harvard Computers and the Classification of the Stars”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhF2bOrKWks (the talk starts at 16 min 30 sec into the video)

4. Web Resources on Issues Facing Women

American Astronomical Society Committee on the Status of Women: https://cswa.aas.org/

A rich site with back issues of the valuable “Status” newsletter, a database of living women astronomers, legal resources, conference proceedings, and discussion of issues related to the role of professional women in the field. For good resources from other fields they recommend, see: https://cswa.aas.org/resources.html

Seager, Sara “So Many Exoplanets, So Few Women Scientists” blog post at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/women-in-science_b_2471980

10 Tips for Undergraduate Women Science Students (from Astronomer Sara Seager):http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-guide/2010/08/11/10-tips-for-women-students- in-science-fields

Women at Work: A Meeting on the Status of Women in Astronomy: http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/wia/

Proceedings of a pioneering 1992 meeting with useful local and national perspectives.

Women in Planetary Science: http://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/profiles/ (Profiles of more than 50 women active in studying the solar system, and a discussion of issues they face)

Women in Astronomy Blog (from the American Astronomical Society): http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/

Finkbeiner, Ann “Good Morning, Gentlemen and Meg: Astronomy, A Woman’s Choice” (an article compiling personal history and suggestions from interviews of 15 noted women astronomers): https://cswa.aas.org/status/2001/JANUARY2001/Finkbeiner.html

The Baltimore Charter (spelling out what can be done to help improve the status and working conditions of women in astronomy): https://cswa.aas.org/bc.html

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (2010 research report from the Association of University Women discusses key research findings on factors that block women’s participation and progress in science): http://www.aauw.org/resource/why-so-few-women-in- science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics/

Women in Astronomy 2009 (a 3-minute video, made in conjunction with the 2009 meeting about women in astronomy. Concise framing of issues through interviews with leaders such as Vera Rubin, Meg Urry, and Dara Norman): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QyMB0qagZs

Jocelyn Bell Burnell TED talk on “Reflections on Women in Science: Diversity and Discomfort” (a 15- minute talk with some of her personal history and statistics about women in astronomy): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7amRdr30Y

Meg Urry colloquium on “Women in Science: Why So Few?” (an hour-long illustrated talk on statistics and issues, not specifically about astronomy, but with many eye-opening ideas): http://vimeo.com/35730552

5. Material on Some Specific Women Astronomers of the Past

Cannon, Annie (1863-1941)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Cannon.

Bok, Priscilla "Annie Jump Cannon 1863-1941" in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, June 1941, vol. 53, p. 168. (Available on the Web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1941PASP...53..168B )

Camp, Carole American Astronomers: Searchers and Wonderers. 1996, Enslow. One chapter of this book for teen readers is devoted to Canon’s life and work.

Emberlin, D. Science: Contributions of Women. 1977, Dillon Press. Includes a section on Cannon, pp. 7-27.

Greenstein, George "The Ladies of Observatory Hill" in American Scholar, Feb. 1993, p. 437. (Reprinted in his book Portraits of Discovery, 1998, John Wiley.)

Hearnshaw, John The Analysis of Starlight. 1986, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 5.

Kidwell, P. "Three Women of American Astronomy" in American Scientist, May/June 1990, p. 244.

Merrill, P. "Annie Jump Cannon" in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 102, no. 2, p. 74 (1942).

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes a considerable amount of material on Cannon and her mentoring of other women.

Web Sites:

Brief biography at ScienceWomen Site: http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/cannon.html

Annie Cannon pages at Wellesley College: http://academics.wellesley.edu/Astronomy/Annie/       Part of a student project, but with good local historical information.

Article on MacTutor: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Cannon.html

Aceves, Ana: Annie Jump Cannon, Star Classifier (a short post on the Sky &Telescope website, 2016: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/annie-jump-cannon-star-classifier/

Project Continua Page: http://www.projectcontinua.org/annie-jump-cannon/

Obituary by H. A. Bruck in The Observatory, Vol. 64, p. 113-115 (1941): http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1941Obs.         64..113B (click on “full printable article PDF”)

Information on video about Cannon’s life and work: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~alexg/ajc.html

Clerke, Agnes (1842-1907)

 Bruck, Mary "Agnes Mary Clerke: Chronicler of Astronomy" in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Mar. 1994, p. 59. Lengthy profile, on the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1994QJRAS..35...59B

Bruck, Mary Agnes Mary Clerke & the Rise of Astrophysics. 2002, Cambridge U. Press.

Bruck, Mary “Agnes Mary Clerke: Ever Popular Historian of Astronomy” in Antiquarian Astronomer, 2004, iss. #1, p. 3. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004AntAs...1........................................... 3B

Cliver, Edward “Agnes Mary Clerke: Real Time Historian of Astronomy” in Astronomy & Geophysics (the magazine of the Royal Astronomical Society), June 2007, vol. 48, p. 3.25. (On the web at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/48/3/3.25/200790/Agnes-Mary-Clerke-Real-time-historian- of-astronomy )

Lightman, B. “Constructing Victorian Heavens: Agnes Clerke and the "New Astronomy" in Natural Eloquence: Women Reinscribe Science. Gates, Barbara & Shteir, Ann, eds. 1997, U. of Wisconsin Press.

McKenna-Lawlor, Susan Whatever Shines Should be Observed. 2003, Springer. The story of five 19th century women who made contributions to astronomy and science, including Clerke.

Russell, Sarah “Agnes Mary Clerke: Stars, Systems, Problems” in Astronomy & Geophysics, 1 June 2016, Vol. 57, Issue 3, Pages 3.16ff. On the web at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/3/3.16/1741860

See, T.J.J. “Some Recollections of Agnes Mary Clerke” in Popular Astronomy, 1907, Vol. 15, No. 6, p.

323.

Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth "The Prolific Pen of Agnes Clerke" in Sky & Telescope, Sep. 1985, p. 211.

Web Sites:

Brief biography from the Catholic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04051b.htm Biography at the History of Mathematics website: http://www-history.mcs.st-

andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Clerke.html

1907 Obituary from the Astrophysical Journal by Margaret Huggins: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1907ApJ....25..226H (click on full article)

Brief 1907 obituary in the Times of London: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Times/1907/Obituary/Agnes_Mary_Clerke

Debakcsy, Dale: Agnes Mary Clerke: At the Nerve Center of 19th Century Astrophysics” at: http://womenyoushouldknow.net/agnes-mary-clerke-nerve-center-19th-century-astrophysics/


Fleming, Williamina (1857-1911)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Fleming.

Camp, Carole American Astronomers: Searchers and Wonderers. 1996, Enslow. One chapter of this book for teen readers is devoted to Fleming’s life and work.

Hirshfeld, Alan “Williamina Fleming: The Brief Life of a Spectrographic Pioneer” in Harvard Magazine, Jan/Feb. 2017. On the web at: https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/01/williamina-fleming

Jones, Bessie & Boyd, Lyle The Harvard College Observatory (1839-1919). 1971, Harvard U. Press. See several sections of this history for her contributions.

Nelson, Sue “From Scotch Maid to Innovative Astronomer” in Astronomy & Geophysics, 1 June 2016, vol.57, issue 3, p. 3.12. On-line at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/3/3.12/1741845

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes a considerable amount of material on Fleming’s life and work.

Spradley, J. "The Industrious Mrs. Fleming" in Astronomy, July 1990, p. 48.

Spradley, J. "Two Centennials of Star Catalogs Compiled by Women" in Astronomy Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 177 (1990).

Web Sites:

Brief biography at Woman Astronomer site: http://www.womanastronomer.com/wfleming.htm

Short biographical article at the New England Historical Society: http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/williamina-fleming-boston-maid-discovered-stars/

Fleming, Wilhelmina: Obituary (1911) by Annie Cannon from the Astrophysical Journal: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1911ApJ....34..314C (click on the PDF box at the end to see the article itself)

Her page at Project Continua: http://www.projectcontinua.org/williamina-paton-fleming/


Herschel, Caroline (1750-1848)

Alic, Margaret Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science. 1986, Beacon Press. Chapter 9 has a good section on Herschel’s work.

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Herschel.

Belkora, Leila Minding the Heavens: The Story of Our Discovery of the Milky Way. 2003, IOP Publishing. Chapter 4 is about the Herschels.

Brock, Claire The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical Ambition. 2008, Totem Books. A popular-level biography. A radio program interviewing the author can be found at the end of the web sites below.

Gould, Paula “Two Good Women, or Too Good to Be True?” (a 2002 essay from Science, considering how Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville are treated by history, in contrast with men of their time): https://science.sciencemag.org/content/296/5574/1805.full

Higgins, F. Sweeper of the Skies: Caroline Herschel. 1967, Follett. For young people.

Hoskin, Michael “Caroline Herschel’s Life of Mortification and Disappointments, in Journal for the History of Astronomy, Nov. 2014, Vol. 45, No. 4, p.442-466.

Hoskin, Michael “In Caroline Herschel’s Footsteps” in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 2007, p. 59. 

Hoskin, Michael “Astronomy’s Matriarch” in Sky &Telescope, May 2005, p. 42-46.

Hoskin, Michael, ed. Caroline Herschel’s Autobiographies. 2003, Science History Publications. Annotated versions of the autobiographies she wrote in her 70’s and 90’s.

Hoskin, Michael The Herschel Partnership, as Viewed by Caroline. 2003, Science History Publications. By a noted historian of astronomy. On the web at:

Hughes, D. “Caroline Herschel: Comet Huntress” in Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Apr. 1999, vol. 109, p. 78. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1999JBAA..109...78H

Lemonick, Michael The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Cosmos. 2008, W. W. Norton. A popular-level history of their partnership by a science reporter.

Lubbock, C. The Herschel Chronicle. 1933, Cambridge U. Press. Family chronicle of William and Caroline, by his grand-daughter. On the web at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Hcc5AAAAIAAJ

McCully, Emily Caroline’s Comet. 2017, Holiday House. Illustrated children’s book.

Ogilvie, M. "Caroline Herschel's Contributions to Astronomy" in Annals of Science, vol. 32, p. 149 (1975). 

Ogilvie, Marilyn: Searching the Stars: The Story of Carolyn Herschel. 2011, History Press. On the web at: https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgTDQAAQBAJ

Winterburn, Emily The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel: The Lost Heroine in Astronomy. 2018, History Press.

Web Sites:

Biography at MacTutor Site:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Herschel_Caroline.html

Flanders, Tony “Following in Caroline Herschel’s Footsteps” (a guide to re-observing some of the objects she saw, for amateurs): http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/Caroline_Herschel_Objects.html

The full text of the 1879 (2nd) edition of the Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel has been digitized and is freely available from Google Books at: http://books.google.com/books?id=9kIBAAAAQAAJ

Nicholas, Siobhán: Stella (a play about Caroline Herschel): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/14/play-astronomer-caroline-herschel

March 2007 BBC radio program about her: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2007_11_thu.shtml

Obituary in Monthly Notices of the RAS: http://adsbit.harvard.edu/full/seri/MNRAS/0008//0000066.000.html


Hoffleit, Dorrit (1907 - 2007)

Hoffleit, Dorrit "Some Glimpses from My Career" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Jan/Feb. 1992, p. 16.

Hoffleit, Dorrit Misfortunes as Blessings in Disguise. 2002, American Association of Variable Star Observers. Her autobiography.

Larsen, Kristine “Variable Stars and Constant Commitments: The Stellar Career of Dorrit Hoffleit” in the Journal of the AAVSO, 2012, vol. 40, p. 44. On the web at: https://www.aavso.org/sites/default/files/jaavso/v40n1/44.pdf

Larsen, Kristine “An Interview with Dorrit Hoffleit” in the Journal of the AAVSO, 2009, vol. 37, p. 52. On the web at: https://www.aavso.org/media/jaavso/2568.pdf

Levy, David “Astronomy’s First Lady” in Sky & Telescope, Feb. 1999, p. 89.

Philip, A.G. D., et al, eds. Anni Mirabiles: A Symposium Celebrating the 90th Birthday of Dorrit Hoffleit. 1999, L. Davis Press.

Web Sites:

Brief Biography at AAVSO site: http://www.aavso.org/memoriam-dorrit-hoffleit

Brief Biography at the Connecticut Hall of Fame Site: http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/science-health/dorrit-hoffleit

Brief Obituary from Sky & Telescope: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/dorrit-hoffleit- 19072007/

DeVorkin, David “Interview with Dorrit Hoffleit” 1979, for the Center for the History of Physics; transcript at: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4677

Obituary by Virginia Trimble: https://aas.org/obituaries/e-dorrit-hoffleit-1907-2007 or http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007BAAS 39.1067T

July 2006 Interview with Pamela Gay (video): http://www.starstryder.com/2007/04/11/dorrit-hoffleit-1907-2007/ (a video tribute with interview is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uC2xiIXZ5A )

 

Hogg, Helen Sawyer (1905-1993)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Hogg.

Clement, Christine & Broughton, Peter “Helen Sawyer Hogg Obituary” in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, vol. 87, No. 6, p. 351 (Dec. 1993): http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/JRASC/0087//0000351.000.html

Morrison, David & Fraknoi, Andrew "1983 ASP Award Winners: Klumpke Roberts Award to Helen Sawyer Hogg" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Nov/Dec. 1983, p. 185.

Pipher, Judith “Helen Sawyer Hogg Obituary” in Publications of the Astronomical Society, vol. 105, p. 1369 (Dec. 1993): http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0105//0001369.000.html

Webb, M. Helen Sawyer Hogg: A Lifetime of Stargazing. 1991, Copp Clark Pitman (Toronto). 

Yost, E. Women of Modern Science. 1959, Greenwood Press. Pp. 31-47 are on Helen Hogg.

Web Sites:

Obituary from the Journal of the AAVSO: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1993JAVSO..22...83C/0000083.000.html

Brief Biography at Science Women Site: http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/hogg.html

From the Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/helen-sawyer-hogg

Her career highlights summary at U. of Toronto: http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/about/history/helen-sawyer-hogg/

Brief Biography at Canada Under the Stars: http://astro-canada.ca/_en/a2206.html

DeBakesy, Dale “Before There Was Sagan: How Helen Sawyer Hogg Brought Astronomy to the People” at: http://womenyoushouldknow.net/before-there-was-sagan-how-helen-sawyer-hogg-brought-astronomy- to-the-people/

Transcript of an Interview with David DeVorkin at the Center for the History of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4679 (there is also a separate interview with Owen Gingerich at: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral- histories/29928-1 )

Video of lecture about the life and work Helen Hogg by Christine Clement:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJkryE_p-DM

1981 Interview with Helen Hogg (sponsored by the RASC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH5FGnrsZsI&t=453s


Huggins, Margaret (1848-1916)

Becker, Barbara “Dispelling the Myth of the Able Assistant: Margaret and William Huggins at Work in the Tulse Hill Observatory” in Helena Pycior, et al. eds., Creative Couples in the Sciences. 1996, Rutgers University Press. (On the web at: http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/ExploringtheCosmos/week7b.html; this is also part of a whole book on the Huggins’ at: http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/huggins/)

Becker, Barbara “Margaret Huggins and Tulse Hill Observatory” in Astronomy & Geophysics, Vol. 57, Issue 2, 1 Apr. 2016, p. 2.13. On-line at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/2/2.13/2468644

Belkora, Leila Minding the Heavens: The Story of Our Discovery of the Milky Way. 2003, IOP Publishing. Chapter 6 is about the Hugginses.

Bruck, Mary Agnes Mary Clerke & the Rise of Astrophysics. 2002, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 5 and several other sections about Margaret Huggins’ work and relationship with Clerke.

Bruck, M. T. “Companions in Astronomy: Margaret Huggins and Agnes Clerke” in Irish Astronomical Journal, Sep 1991, vol. 20(2), p. 70.

McKenna-Lawlor, Susan Whatever Shines Should be Observed. 2003, Springer. The story of five 19th century women who made contributions to astronomy and science, including Huggins.

Richardson, Robert "Lady Huggins" in The Star Lovers. 1967, Macmillan.

Web Site:

Joe Tenn’s article on the Hugginses from the Griffith Observer: http://www.phys- astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Huggins/HugginsesDrapers.pdf

Dale Debakcsi’s 2018 article “The Secrets Stars Keep: Lady Margaret Huggins Pioneer of Spectral Photography” is at: https://womenyoushouldknow.net/margaret-huggins-spectral-photography/

Obituary in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1916MNRAS..76R.278./0000278.000.html

Obituary by Sarah Whiting in the Astrophysical Journal, 1915: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1915ApJ....42. 1W

Barbara Becker’s 2015 public lecture on the history of 19th century spectroscopy has information on M. Huggins’ role (about 50 min into the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzw-hRzCfAs


Leavitt, Henrietta (1868-1921)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Leavitt.

Burleigh, Robert Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer. 2013, Simon & Schuster. A book for children ages 4 – 8.

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes a chapter on Leavitt.

Crowe, Michael Modern Theories of the Universe from Herschel to Hubble. 1994, Dover. See especially Chapter 6.

Ferguson, Kitty Measuring the Universe. 1999, Walker. Chronicle of how distances were found in the universe, with good discussions of contributions by individual astronomers.

Johnson, George Miss Leavitt’s Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe. 2005, Atlas/Norton.

Jones, Bessie & Boyd, Lyle The Harvard College Observatory (1839-1919). 1971, Harvard U. Press. See Chapters 10 and 11.

Mitchell, H. "Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables" in The Physics Teacher, Mar. 1976, vol. 14, p.162.

Moore, Patrick Astronomers’ Stars. 1987, Norton. Chapter 10 concerns Leavitt’s work on Cepheids. Richardson, Robert "Henrietta Leavitt" in The Star Lovers. 1967, Macmillan.

Singh, Simon Big Bang. 2004, Harper. Chapter 3 has a nice section on her life and work.

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes a considerable amount of material on Leavitt’s life and work.

Web Sites:

Brief Biography at Woman Astronomer Site: http://www.womanastronomer.com/hleavitt.htm

Very brief biography at PBS Science Odyssey: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/baleav.html Biography on the Famous Scientists Website: https://www.famousscientists.org/henrietta-swan-leavitt/

Haynes, Korey “Meet Henrietta Leavitt” post: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/02/meet-henrietta-leavitt-the-woman-who-gave-us-a-universal-ruler

Gunderson, Lauren: Silent Sky (a play about Leavitt): https://sites.google.com/site/henriettasrhapsody/ and http://silentskyplay.tumblr.com/ For more about the dramatist: http://laurengunderson.com/

Video of talk by George Johnson on his “Search for Miss Leavitt”: http://perimeterinstitute.ca/videos/search-miss-leavitt

Film (17-min) by Pangratios Panacosta on Leavitt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70cFwfNW7gQ


Maury, Antonia (1866-1952)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Maury.

Hearnshaw, John The Analysis of Starlight. 1986, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 5. 

Hoffleit, Dorrit "Antonia Maury" in Sky & Telescope, Mar. 1952, p. 106.

Jones, Bessie & Boyd, Lyle The Harvard College Observatory (1839-1919). 1971, Harvard U. Press. See Chapter 5 and 11 on Maury’s work with spectra.

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes some material on Maury’s life and work.

Web Sites:

Vassar Encyclopedia Entry: http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/antonia-maury.html

Short biography on the Woman Astronomer site: http://www.womanastronomer.com/amaury.htm

Short biography at Project Continua: http://www.projectcontinua.org/antonia-maury/

Short biography at Time magazine site: http://time.com/4262838/antonia-maury-astronomer/



Mitchell, Maria (1818-1889)

Albers, Henry, ed. Maria Mitchell: A Life in Journals and Letters. 2001, College Avenue Press. Many excerpts from her writings, interspersed with biographical information.

Anderson, Dale Maria Mitchell: Astronomer. 2003, Chelsea House. For young adults.

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Mitchell.

Belserene, Emelia "Maria Mitchell: 19th Century Astronomer" in Astronomy Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 19, p. 133 (1986).

Berglund, Renee Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science. 2008, Beacon Press. Story of her life and of the importance of her work and fame for women’s issues.

Booker, Margaret Among the Stars: The Life of Maria Mitchell. 2007, Mill Hill Press. A long biography for adult readers.

Camp, Carole American Astronomers: Searchers and Wonderers. 1996, Enslow. One chapter of this book for teen readers is devoted to Mitchell’s life and work.

Gormley, Beatrice Maria Mitchell: The Soul of an Astronomer. 1995, Eerdmans Publishing. A book for youngsters.

Holmes, Richard “Maria Mitchell at 200: A Pioneering Astronomer who Fought for Women in Science” in Nature, 18 June 2018 (vol. 558, pp. 370-371): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05458-6 Kidwell, P. "Three Women of American Astronomy" in American Scientist, May/June 1990, p. 244.

Kohlstedt, S. "Maria Mitchell and the Advancement of Women in Science" in P. Abir-Am &

Outram, D., eds. Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in Science 1789-1979. 1987, Rutgers U. Press. Has chapter on Mitchell.

Matyas, C. "Maria Mitchell: First Woman Astronomer in America" in Science Digest, Aug. 1961, vol. 50, no. 8, p. 51.

McGraw, E. “When Girls Studied Planets and the Sky Had No Limits” (from Smithsonian): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-girls-studied-planets-and-the-skies-had-no- limits-180964127/

McPherson, Stephanie Rooftop Astronomer: A Story about Maria Mitchell. 1990, CarolRhoda Books. For younger children.

Merriam, Eve, ed. Growing Up Female in America: Ten Lives. 1971, Doubleday. Has excerpts from Mitchell’s diary in the section about her (pp. 75-92).

Morgan, Helen Maria Mitchell: First Lady of American Astronomy. 1977, Westminster. For children. 

Opalko, J. "Maria Mitchells' Haunting Legacy" in Sky & Telescope, May 1992, p. 505.

Torjesen, Elizabeth Comet Over Nantucket: Maria Mitchell and Her Island: The Story of America's First Woman Astronomer, 1984, Friends United Press. Fictionalized biography.

Wright, Helen Sweeper in the Sky: The Life of Maria Mitchell. 1950, Macmillan. (Recently updated and reprinted by College Avenue Press. The original edition is on the web at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/wright/sweeper/sweeper.html )

Web Sites:

Maria Mitchell for Students (at the Maria Mitchell Association website; use the menu at left to find all the pages): https://www.mariamitchell.org/research-and-collections/maria-mitchell/for-students (This is part of a rich website with information, images, archival material: https://www.mariamitchell.org/ )

Brief Biography at Distinguished Women Web Site: http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/mitchell.html

Brief biography at the Maria Mitchell House Preservation Web Site: http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/pwwmh/ma74.htm

Brief Biography at Unitarian/Universalist pages: http://uudb.org/articles/mariamitchell.html

Her Entry in the Vassar Encyclopedia: http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/index.php/Maria_Mitchell 

An 1881 Address by Mitchell about the Collegiate Education of Women:https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:2575143$1i

Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals (at Project Gutenberg): http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10202

Short article at WGBH TV site: http://news.wgbh.org/post/meet-americas-first-woman-astronomer-maria-mitchell


Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia (1900-1979)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Payne-Gaposchkin.

Bartusiak, Marcia "The Stuff of the Stars" in The Sciences, Sep/Oct. 1993, p. 34. Excerpt on her work from Bartusiak's book, Through a Universe Darkly (1993, HarperCollins.)

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes chapter on Payne by Vera Rubin.

Camp, Carole American Astronomers: Searchers and Wonderers. 1996, Enslow. One chapter of this book for teen readers is devoted to her life and work.

Gingerich, Owen “The Most Brilliant Phd Thesis Ever Written in Astronomy” in Phillip, A. & Koopman, R., eds. The Starry Universe: The Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Centenary. 2001, L. Davis Press. Article is on the web at: http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/cecilia-payne-gaposchkin-3/ OR http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?2001stun.conf 3G&amp

Greenstein, George "The Ladies of Observatory Hill" in American Scholar, Feb. 1993, p. 437. (Reprinted in his book Portraits of Discovery, 1998, John Wiley.)

Haramundanis, Katherine, ed. Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Notes, 2nd ed. 1996, Cambridge U. Press.

Hearnshaw, John The Analysis of Starlight. 1986, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 2.

Hufbauer, Karl Exploring the Sun. 1991, Johns Hopkins. Chapter 3 discusses Payne’s work, among others. Kidwell, Peggy "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: Astronomy in the Family" in P. Abir-Am & Outram, D., eds. Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in Science 1789-1979. 1987, Rutgers U. Press.

Kidwell, Peggy "Three Women of American Astronomy" in American Scientist, May/June 1990, p. 244. Smith, E. "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin" in Physics Today, June 1980, p. 64.\ 

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes material on Payne’s early life and work. 

Soter, Steven & Tyson, Neil, eds. Cosmic Horizons. 2001, New Press. See p. 75ff. (Profile excerpt at: https://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/cosmic-horizons/profile-cecilia-payne-and-the- composition-of-the-stars/ )

Wayman, Patrick “Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: Astronomer Extraordinaire” in Astronomy & Geophysics, 2002, Vol. 43, Issue 1, p. 1.27. On the web at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/43/1/1.27/203723

Whitney, Charles "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Astronomer's Astronomer" in Sky & Telescope, Mar. 1980, p. 212.

Web Sites:

Brief Obituary from the Quarterly Journal of the RAS by Owen Gingerich: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982QJRAS..23..450G

Two excellent articles about her at the Harvard Square Library: http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/cecilia-payne-gaposchkin-3/

1968 Interview by Owen Gingerich at AIP: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral- histories/4620

Hoffleit, Dorrit “Reminiscences of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin”: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi- bin/nph-iarticle_query?2001stun.conf...87H&amp

Short biography at the American Assn of University Women Site: https://www.aauw.org/2013/10/02/a- veritable-star/

Richard Williams “Cecilia Payne and the Day the Universe Changed” on the American Institute of Physics website: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201501/physicshistory.cfm

Stuart Clark’s article about her the day a company named a line of pants in her honor: https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2013/aug/23/cecilia-payne-gaposchkin-pants


Roberts, Dorothea Klumpke (1861-1942)

Aitken, Robert "Dorothea Klumpke Roberts" in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Dec. 1942, vol. 54, p. 217. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1942PASP...54..217A

Bracher, Katherine "Dorothea Klumpke Roberts: A Forgotten Astronomer" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Sep/Oct. 1981, p. 139.

Reynolds, J. "Dorothea Klumpke Roberts" in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 104, no. 2, p. 92 (1944). (very brief)

Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth "The Triumph of Dorothea Klumpke" in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 1986, p. 109.

Web Sites:

Biographical article by Don Stone: http://www.aanc-astronomy.org/articles/dorothea.html

About her Pioneering Balloon Flights: https://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/Klumpke.html and http://www.whiteoaks.com/jane/leonidklumpke/dorothea.txt

Brief biography at Linda Hall Library: https://www.lindahall.org/dorothea-klumpke-roberts/


Roman, Nancy (1925 - 2018)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Roman.

Croswell, Ken The Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way. 1995, Doubleday. See Chapter 8.

 Roman, Nancy “Following My Lucky Star” in Science, Vol. 354, Issue 6317, pp. 1346. (Part of their Working Life series.) On the web at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6317/1346

Silver, Lily “Dr. Nancy G. Roman, the Astronomer's Astronomer” in Profiles in Success: 40 Lives of Achievement. 1965, Fountainhead Publishers.

Yasuda, Anita Astronomy: Cool Women in Space. 2015, Nomad Press. She is featured in this book for kids ages 9-12.

Web Sites:

Autobiographical Article in Astronomy Beat: https://www.astrosociety.org/37RYL62T/astrobeat/ab2016- 143.pdf

“Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope” – a 10-min 2008 Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2movHF4NzA

Obituary in the New York Times, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/nancy-roman- dies-at-93.html

Interview with David DeVorkin at the Center for the History of Physics from 1980: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4846

Searcy, Maureen “A Wider Scope” from the U. of Chicago: https://mag.uchicago.edu/science-medicine/wider-scope

Brief Interview at Women at NASA: https://women.nasa.gov/nancy-grace-roman-2/ 5-minute video on her role in the history of the Hubble Space Telescope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PwJIeiZ_vI

Biographical article by Dale Debakcsy at Women You Should Know: http://womenyoushouldknow.net/nancy-roman-hubble-space-telescope/


Rubin, Vera (1928 - 2016)

Bartusiak, Marcia "The Woman Who Spins the Stars" in Discover, Oct. 1990, p. 88. See also Bartusiak’s book, Through a Universe Darkly, 1993, HarperCollins, p. 202ff.

Boslaugh, John Masters of Time: Cosmology at the End of Innocence. 1992, Addison-Wesley. Chapter 2 features Rubin’s life and work.

Camp, Carole American Astronomers: Searchers and Wonderers. 1996, Enslow. One chapter of this book for teen readers is devoted to Rubin’s life and work.

Goldsmith, Donald The Astronomers. 1991, St. Martins. Chapter 2 profiles Vera Rubin.

Hunter, Deirdre “Vera Cooper Rubin (1928-2016)” in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Apr. 2017, vol. 129, p. 201. On line at: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/aa5cc1/pdf

Irion, Robert “Vera Rubin Profile: The Bright Face Behind the Dark Sides of Galaxies” in Science, vol. 295, no. 5557, p. 960 (Feb. 8, 2002).

Isbell, Douglas & Strom, Stephen “A Talk with Vera Rubin” in Observatories of the Southwest. 2009, U. of Arizona Press.

Lightman, Alan & Brawer, Roberta "Interview with Vera Rubin" in Origins. 1990, Harvard U. Press. Overbye, Dennis Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos. 1992, HarperCollins. Chapter 17 focuses on her work. Rubin, Vera "Women's Work: Women in Modern Astronomy" in Science 86, Jul/Aug. 1986, p. 58.

Rubin, Vera Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters. 1997, American Institute of Physics Press. A collection of her articles, including several personal reminiscences.

Rubin, Vera “An Interesting Voyage” (an autobiographical article from Annual Reviews 2011; 30-page PDF): http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-astro-081710-102545

Rubin, Vera “Seeing Dark Matter in the Andromeda Galaxy” in Physics Today, Dec. 2006, vol. 59, no. 12, p. 8. More technical reminiscences, also at: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2435662

Schomaker, William “Interview with Vera Rubin” (very brief) in Astronomy, June 2003, p. 18. 

Scoles, S. “How Vera Rubin Discovered Dark Matter” in Astronomy, June 2016, p. 26.

Soter, Steven & Tyson, Neil, eds. Cosmic Horizons. 2001, New Press. See p. 94ff. On the web at: https://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/cosmic-horizons/profile-vera-rubin-and-dark- matter/

Stephens, Sally "Vera Rubin: An Unconventional Career" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Jan/Feb. 1992, p. 38. An interview.

Tucker, Wallace & Karen The Dark Matter. 1988, Morrow. See Chapter 6.

Yeager, A. “Vera Rubin’s Universe” in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 2017, p. 36. On her life and work.

Obituary in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/science/vera-rubin-astronomist-who-made-the-case-for-dark-matter-dies-at-88.html

Web Sites:

Remembering Vera website at the Carnegie Institution: https://dtm.carnegiescience.edu/remembering-vera 

Sandra Faber’s Obituary Blog at Scientific American: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/vera-rubins-contributions-to-astronomy/

Sarah Scoles’ article on how she confirmed dark matter at Astronomy magazine site: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/10/vera-rubin

Joe Tenn’s Bruce Medalist Profile of her: http://www.phys- astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Rubin/index.html

Lightman, Alan “Interview with Vera Rubin” 1989, for the Center for the History of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/33963 plus a 1995 interview by David DeVorkin: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5920-1

2002 Interview in Discover Magazine: http://discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/breakdialogue She receives an honorary degree and addresses the graduates of American University in 2011:https://vimeo.com/23419815


Sitterly, Charlotte Moore (1898-1990)

Garton, W. & Martin, W. “Obituary for C. M. Sitterly” in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 32, pp. 209-10 (1991).

Martin, W. “Charlotte Sitterly” in Physics Today, vol. 44, p. 128 (Apr. 1991). On the web at: http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2810096 (click NEXT for the second page)

Morrison, Nancy & Fraknoi, Andrew "The Award of the 1990 Bruce Medal to Charlotte Moore Sitterly" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Nov/Dec. 1990, p. 179.

Rubin, Vera “Charlotte Moore Sitterly” in Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 2010, Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 145 – 148. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010JAHH...13..145R

Sitterly, Charlotte Moore, “Collaboration with Henry Norris Russell over the Years,” in Philip, A.G. Davis & David H. DeVorkin, eds., In Memory of Henry Norris Russell. 1977, Dudley Observatory, pp. 27-41.

Tousey, R. "The Solar Spectrum from Fraunhofer to Skylab: An Appreciation of the Contributions of Charlotte Moore Sitterly" in Journal of the Optical Society of America, Series B, vol. 5, p. 2230 (Oct. 1988).

Web Sites:

Profile connected with the Bruce Medal:http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Sitterly/index.html

Brief obituary in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/08/obituaries/charlotte-sitterly-91-devoted-career-to-sunlight-studies.html

DeVorkin, David “Interview with Charlotte Moore (Sitterly)” 1978, for the Center for the History of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4784

Roman, Nancy: Obituary from the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society:https://aas.org/obituaries/charlotte-moore-sitterly-1898-1990

Obituary by Vera Rubin in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2010JAHH...13..145R

Brief obituary in the Standards Association Alumni Newsletter: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Sitterly/SitterlySAANews1990.pdf


Somerville, Mary (1780-1872)

Alic, Margaret Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science. 1986, Beacon Press. Chapter 12 has a good section on her work.

Bruck, M. “Mary Somerville: Mathematician and Astronomer of Underused Talent” in Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Aug. 1996, vol. 106, p. 201. On line at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996JBAA..106..201B

Chapman, Allan The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. 1998, Wiley/Praxis. See especially pp. 276ff. 

Chapman, Allan Mary Somerville and the World of Science. 2004, Canopus Books.

Chapman, Allan “Mary Somerville: Astronomer and Mathematician” in Astronomy Now, 2005, Vol. 19, No.3, p. 77 – 80.

Neeley, Kathryn Mary Somerville: Science, Illumination, and the Female Mind. 2001, Cambridge University Press.

Patterson, E. "Mary Somerville" in British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 4, p. 311 (1969). Long profile.

Secord, J. “Mary Somerville’s Vision of Science” in Physics Today, Jan. 2018, p. 46. Detailed article on her life and work.

Strickland, Elisabetta The Ascent of Mary Somerville in 19th Century Society, 2016, Springer. 

Strickland, Elisabetta “Mary Fairfax Somerville, Queen of Science” in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Sep. 2017. On line at: http://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/201708/rnoti-p929.pdf

Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth "The Education of Mary Somerville" in Sky & Telescope, Feb. 1987, p. 138. 

Wills, Mathew “Mary Somerville, Queen of 19th Century Science” in JSTOR Dailyhttps://daily.jstor.org/mary-somerville-queen-of-19th-century-science/

Web Sites:

Brief Biography at Thoughtco: https://www.thoughtco.com/mary-somerville-biography-p2-3072237

Biography at Mac Tutor: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Somerville.html

From Biographies of Women Mathematicians: http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/somer.htm Brief Biography at Burntisland Site: http://www.burntisland.net/mabon.htm

Biography on Women In European History site: http://womenineuropeanhistory.org/index.php?title=Mary_Somerville

BBC Radio Program about her, with Allan Chapman (audio): http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20040826.shtml

Interesting essay by Paula Gould from Science, wondering if her life story (and Caroline Herschel’s) has been whitewashed by history: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;296/5574/1805

Kelly, Erin: “Mary Somerville: The Woman for Whom the Word ‘Scientist’ Was Made”: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mary-somerville

Obituary in the London Times: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Obits/Somerville.html

A book of recollections by her daughter, Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville is available on line from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27747

An annotated version of her 1831 book Mechanism of the Heavens is on line at: http://www.malaspina.com/etext/heavens.htm 


Tinsley, Beatrice (1941-1981)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Tinsley.

Eisberg, Joann “Making a Science of Observational Cosmology: The Cautious Optimism of Beatrice  Tinsley” in Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 32, p. 264 (2001). On the web at: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2001JHA 32..263E

Faber, Sandra "Beatrice Tinsley" in Physics Today, vol. 34, p. 110 (Sept. 1981). On the web at: http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2914734 (hit the next button to see the second page)

Hill, Edward My Daughter Beatrice. 1986, American Physical Society.

Larson, R. & Stryker, L. “Beatrice Hill Tinsley” in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 23, p. 162 (1982).

Overbye, Dennis Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos. 1992, HarperCollins. An introduction to modern cosmology; material on Tinsley is in Chapter 10.

Overbye, Dennis “Overlooked No More: Beatrice Tinsley” in the New York Times, July 18, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/obituaries/overlooked-beatrice-tinsley-astronomer.html

Trimble, Virginia “Beatrice Tinsley” in Visit to a Small Universe. 1992, American Institute of Physics Press.

Web Sites:

Biography at New Zealand Edge page: http://www.nzedge.com/legends/beatrice-tinsley/ 

Biography by Michele Nichols on Carleton College site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120207203823/http://www.carleton.edu/departments/PHAS/astro/pages/ michele/tinsley.html

Paper about her life and work by Margaret Turner: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mturner/women/bmt.htm

Fu, Lara “This Astronomer Had to Make the Hardest Career Choice” at: https://www.aauw.org/2014/07/16/beatrice-tinsley/

Biography by J. Renee Fernanders: https://jvrf.wordpress.com/beatrice-tinsley-biography/ 

Brief video about Tinsley by U. of Nottingham astronomer Meghan Gray: http://www.deepskyvideos.com/videos/other/beatrice_tinsley.html

American Institute of Physics oral interview by David DeVorkin: https://www.aip.org/history- programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4914

Hoar, Stuart (a New Zealand playwright): Bright Star (a play about the work and life of Tinsley): http://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/stuart-hoar


6. Material on A Few Specific Living Astronomers who are Women

Batalha, Natalie (1966 –

Kaufman, Marc “The Very Influential Natalie Batalha”: http://www.manyworlds.space/index.php/2017/04/24/the-influential-natalie-batalha/

Interview with Susan Niebur on the Women in Planetary Science website: https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/women-in-exoplanets-meet- natalie%C2%A0batalha/

2013 Interview on the NPR show “On Being”: transcript at: https://onbeing.org/programs/natalie-batalha- exoplanets-and-love-science-that-connects-us-to-one-another/

2017 News Release on Her Being Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World: https://news.ucsc.edu/2017/06/batalha-natalie-time-100.html

Interview on Science Friday, on NPR, May 2016 (13 min): https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/a- bounty-of-planets-in-a-tiny-patch-of-space/

Her 2012 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbijeR_AALo&t=8s

Her 2017 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Q1iBgEKbU&t=2575s

Kwok, Roberta “The Stars Her Destination” (a short 2008 profile from the Berkeley Alumni Magazine): http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/november-december-2008-stars-berkeley/stars-her-destination


Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (1943 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Bell Burnell.

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn "Little Green Men, White Dwarfs, or What?" in Sky & Telescope, Mar. 1978, p. 218. 

Bell Brunell, Jocelyn “So Few Pulsars, So Few Females” in Science, 23 April 2004, vol. 304. no. 5670, p. 489. (On line at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/304/5670/489)

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes a chapter on Bell Burnell.

Greenstein, George "Neutron Stars and the Discovery of Pulsars" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Mar/Apr. 1985, p. 34 and May/June 1985, p. 66.

Levin, Janna Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space. 2016, Knopf. Has a section of her work on pulsars.

Reed G. "The Discovery of Pulsars: Was Credit Given Where it was Due?" in Astronomy, Dec. 1983, p. 24. 

Wade, N. "Discovery of Pulsars: A Graduate Student's Story" in Science, Aug. 1, 1975, p. 358. On line at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/189/4200/358.long (but you will need privileges from your library to read the entire piece.)

Web Sites:

Interview on BBC with Jim Al-Khalili (30 min): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016812j 

Interview at the 2015 Edinburgh Science Festival by Andy Cohen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCPereT6XxU

Her TED talk, “Reflections on Women in Science”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7amRdr30Y&t=33s

Podcasts of three talks she gave at Oxford: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/people/jocelyn-bell-burnell

Irish Times article: “The Woman who Discovered the Lighthouses of the Universe”: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/irishwoman-who-discovered-the-lighthouses-of-the-universe-1.443538

Transcript of an Interview on the BBC Program Belief (both about her religious view and her science): https://web.archive.org/web/20101109151056/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/belief/scripts/ jocelyn_bell_burnell.html

DeVorkin, D. “Interview with Jocelyn Bell Burnell” (American Institute of Physics): https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/31792

BBC collection of video clips featuring her: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ry9jq/clips

Royal Institution (Public) Discourse in 1997 (“Tick Tick Tick Pulsating Star”) by Bell Burnell: http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/69 (a video) 

Interview in Discover Magazine, Nov. 2009 by Douglas Colligan: http://discovermagazine.com/2009/nov/29-discover-interview-miles-wire-reams-paper-giant- discovery

1977 After-dinner Speech about her Discovery of Pulsars (text): http://www.bigear.org/vol1no1/burnell.htm


Burbidge, Margaret (1919 - )

Arp, Halton & Fraknoi, Andrew "The Award of the 1982 Bruce Medal to Margaret Burbidge" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Sep/Oct. 1982, p. 154.

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Burbidge.

Bartusiak, Marcia “Margaret Burbidge” in Smithsonian, Nov. 2005, p. 34 (brief biography, on the web at: http://www.marciabartusiak.com/uploads/8/5/8/9/8589314/burbidge.pdf

Burbidge, Margaret “Watcher of the Skies” (an autobiographical article from Annual Reviews 1994; 37- page PDF): http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.aa.32.090194.000245

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes chapter on Burbidge.

Croswell, Ken The Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way. 1995, Doubleday. See Chapter 9.

Reed, J. "A Great Woman Astronomer Leaves England Again" in Smithsonian, Jan. 1974, p. 34.

Rubin, Vera "Margaret Burbidge: AAAS President-Elect" in Science, vol. 211, p. 915 (Feb. 27, 1981). On the web at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/211/4485/915 (but you will need privileges from your library to access the piece beyond page 1.)

"The Stargazer" in Time magazine, Mar. 20, 1972, p. 38.

Web Sites:

Bruce Medal Profile: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/BurbidgeM/

Interview with David DeVorkin at the Center for the History of Physics from 1978:https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/25487

Biography at Encylopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/astronomy- biographies/e-margaret-burbidge

Her 2001 Hitchcock Lecture on “Modern Alchemy: Stars, Chemistry, and Cosmology”: http://podcast.uctv.tv/vod/23342.mp4


Danly, Laura (1958 - )

Interview for Physics Today (2015): http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.9044/full/ Videos at Roadtrip Nation: http://roadtripnation.com/leader/laura-danly

Q&A 2012 at the L.A. Observed site: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/04/qa_with_griffith_observat.php

Her public interest video on soil health: http://www.merlofarminggroup.com/astronomer-dr-laura-danly- soil-health

“To Fathom the Frontier”: Post-eclipse talk (2017) from Jackson Hole: Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDh81Xt1c04

Interview in the Inspirational Women Talk to Teens Series:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZH9PQVIJso


Faber, Sandra (1944 - )

Dressler, Alan Voyage to the Great Attractor. 1994, Knopf. Story of how we learned to explore the large- scale structure of the realm of the galaxies, focusing on the astronomers who call themselves the “Seven Samurai” (of which Faber is one).

Lemonick, Michael The Light at the Edge of the Universe. 1993, Villard/Random House. See especially Chapter 6.

Lightman, Alan & Brawer, Roberta "Interview with Sandra Faber" in Origins. 1990, Harvard U. Press.

Web Sites:

Her Web Page at Lick Observatory: http://www.ucolick.org/~faber/

Interview with Alan Lightman for the Center for the History of Physics 1988: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/33932

Her page at the “Bruce Medalists” site: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Faber/index.html News Release on her Gruber Cosmology Prize: https://aas.org/posts/news/2017/05/sandra-faber-receives-500000-gruber-cosmology-prize

Her talk on “How Galaxies Were Cooked from the Primordial Soup” in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNNCm7SNyw

2009 Interview at Annual Reviews Audio (transcription): http://www.annualreviews.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1299600853298/SandraFaberInterviewTranscript.pdf

Interview with Melanie Fine at the Rocket Girls site: http://rocketgirls.com/interview-with-astronomer-sandra-faber/

Short video about her work on the Hubble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goe8vRNxiIM

Interview on the Planetary Radio podcast: http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2017/0705-sandra-faber.html

2016 Public Talk at the Space Telescope Science Institute: “Cosmic Knowledge and the Long-term Strategy of the Human Race”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MBsBChHsQY



Fischer, Debra (1953 - )

Naeye, Robert “Unlocking New Worlds” in Astronomy, Nov. 2002, p. 48. A profile and discussion of her work.

Web Sites:

Debra Fischer’s professional page at Yale: http://exoplanets.astro.yale.edu/people/dfischer.php Profile at ScienceLine 2017: http://scienceline.org/2017/01/breaking-limits-science-life/

2010 Profile from Radcliffe Magazine: https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news/radcliffe-magazine/debra-fischers-quest-new-planets

Interview at the Woman Astronomer site (2008): http://www.womanastronomer.com/dfischer.htm

Her page at the Planetary Society, with link to a radio interview: http://www.planetary.org/connect/our- experts/profiles/debra-fischer.html

2015 Interview with the Editor of Astronomy Magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/superstars-of-astronomy-podcast/2015/04/debra-fischer-all-about-exoplanets

2016 Wired magazine article about her work: https://www.wired.com/2016/10/meet-next-generation-exoplanet-hunters/

“Searching for Other Earths” 2013 public lecture at Yale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fomk3IakRQ0


Freedman, Wendy (1957 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Freedman.

Ferguson, Kitty Measuring the Universe. 1999, Walker. Chronicle of how distances were found in the universe, with good discussions of contributions by individual astronomers.

Mozel, Philip “A Moment with Wendy Freedman” 2004, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, vol. 98, # 3, p. 135. On the web at: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004JRASC..98..135M

Sokol, Joshua “A recharged debate over the speed of the expansion of the universe could lead to new physics” on Science magazine’s web pages (Mar. 2017): http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/recharged-debate-over-speed-expansion-universe-could-lead-new-physics

Stephens, Sally “Hubble Warrior” in Astronomy, March 2000, p. 52. Profile of her work trying to find the Hubble constant and other cosmological parameters.

Web Sites:

Her faculty page at the U. of Chicago: https://astro.uchicago.edu/people/wendy-l-freedman.php#research-person

2014 News Release when she joined the U. of Chicago: https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/08/07/wendy- freedman-world-leading-astronomer-joins-uchicago-faculty

TED Talks Page: https://www.ted.com/speakers/wendy_freedman

Interview from April 2004, at the National Academy of Sciences (about her life and work): http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/podcasts/interviews/wendy-l-freedman.html

Cosmologist Michael Turner interviews her for a TEDX Evening in 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHsL-M6Tz9g

2011 Interview with Michael Shara at the American Museum of Natural History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90lYIU1Stlo

Brief Profile for the 2009 Gruber Prize: http://gruber.yale.edu/cosmology/2009/wendy-l-freedman Her page and contributions at Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/author/wendy-l-freedman


Geller, Margaret (1947 - )

Ames, Joan. Mastery: Interviews with 30 Remarkable People. 1997, Rudra Press.

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Geller.

Chaikin, Andrew “Surveyor of the Universe” in Air & Space, Aug/Sept. 1991; vol. 6, p. 84. 

Geller, Margaret. “The Big Picture” in Natural History, Feb. 2000, vol. 109, p. 74.

Geller, Margaret “The Black Ribbon” (essay on science and society) in Science, 28 Aug 1998: Vol. 281, Issue 5381, pp. 1278-1279. On the web at: http://www.scienceonline.org/cgi/content/full/281/5381/1278Goldsmith, Donald The Astronomers. 1991, St. Martin's Press. The chapter entitled "Mapping the Universe" profiles Geller's life and work.

Greenstein, George Portraits of Discovery. 1998, John Wiley. Chapter 8 of this collection of biographical articles is about Margaret Geller and John Huchra.

Lawler, Andrew “Margaret Geller: Battling Discrimination or Bureaucracy?” in Science, 12 November 1999; vol. 286. no. 5443, p. 1277. On the web at: http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/1999/11/margaret-geller-battling-discrimination-or-bureaucracy

Lemonick, Michael The Light at the Edge of the Universe. 1993, Villard/Random House. See especially Chapter 3.

Lightman, Alan & Brawer, Roberta "Interview with Margaret Geller" in Origins. 1990, Harvard U. Press. 

Overbye, Dennis Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos. 1992, HarperCollins. See Chapter 19. 

Taubes, Gary “Beyond the Soapsuds Universe” in Discover, Aug. 1997. On the web at: http://discovermagazine.com/1997/aug/beyondthesoapsud1197

Wiley, John “Margaret Geller: Star Mapper” in Astronomy, Nov. 2000; vol. 28. p. 104.

Web Sites:

Her web page at Smithsonian: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~mjg/

Her MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” Page: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/394/

Text of her 1995 Phi Beta Kappa Address at Harvard “Sense of Wonder”: http://gos.sbc.edu/g/geller.html (Listed by NPR as one of the best commencement speeches ever: https://apps.npr.org/commencement/speech/margaret-j-geller-harvard-university-1995/ )

Her 2010 Chautauqua Lecture on astronomical photography “Click! The Universe”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKGQzWa6yM

2013 interview when she won the APS Lillienfeld Prize (6 min): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c3lM8v68Hw

Mapping the Universe audio at Story Collider: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2016/1/4/margaret-geller-mapping-the-universe



Ghez, Andrea (1965 - )

Finkbeiner, Ann “Astronomy: Star Tracker” in Nature, vol. 495, pp. 296–298 (21 March 2013). On the web at: https://www.nature.com/news/astronomy-star-tracker-1.12622

Freedman, David “The Mysterious Middle of the Milky Way” in Discover Magazine, Nov. 1998. Features her work.

Ghez, Andrea & Cohen, Judith You Can Be a Woman Astronomer. 2006, Cascade Press. A picture book for children from grades 3 - 5, includes a discussion of her own beginnings.

Sokol, Joshua “The Black Hole Hunter Peering into the Heart of Our Galaxy” (2017, Atlantic Magazine). On the web at:  https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/andrea-ghez-black-hole-hunter/535296/

Yasuda, Anita Astronomy: Cool Women in Space. 2015, Nomad Press. She is featured in this book for kids ages 9-12.

Web Sites:

Her web page at UCLA: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ghez/

“The Monster Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way,” her 2017 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv1igzE-aX4&t=359s

2017 UCLA Student Video where she is asked 37 questions in 6 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Tnc3CUsEM

Her 2009 Lecture at TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8re1U9rCo4 OR http://www.ted.com/talks/andrea_ghez_the_hunt_for_a_supermassive_black_hole.html

Sky & Telescope website pieces about her work: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/star-zips-around-black-hole/AND http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/milky-ways-central- monster-measured/

“Andrea Ghez: Puzzle Solver” at StarDate’s black hole encyclopedia (interview): http://blackholes.stardate.org/research/ghez-interview.php.html

Brief story about her on “My Hero” web page: http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=A_M_Ghez_06

Her MacArthur Foundation “Genius Prize” page: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/798/

Interview with her for the PBS TV Show NOVA in 2006: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blackhole/explorer.html


Hammel, Heidi (1960 - )

Bortz, Fred: Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel (2005, Franklin Watts/Scholastic & Joseph Henry Press). A colorful profile of Hammel as a person and scientists, written for teenagers (but enjoyable reading for everyone.)

Flanagan, R. “Observer of the Gas Giants” in Astronomy, July 1997, p. 50.

Web Site:

Brief 2010 interview on the Women in Planetary Science site: https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/heidi-hammel-ask-for-help-when-you-need-it/

2008 interview in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/science/02conv.html

Her Planetary Society page with posts and radio show appearance: http://www.planetary.org/about/board-of-directors/heidi-hammel.html

Her answers to frequently asked questions at the site for the kids’ book about her: http://www.fredbortz.com/HammelBio/AstroFAQ.htm

2016 podcast with the editor of Astronomy magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/superstars-of- astronomy-podcast/2016/04/heidi-hammel

An hour interview of Minnesota Public Radio about the successor telescope to the Hubble and her work: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/05/midmorning2/

Some brief reminiscences by her brother: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1373765 

Interview in Newsweek, Nov. 26, 2007: http://www.newsweek.com/id/70975

2016 Profile at AAAS website: https://www.aaas.org/blog/member-spotlight/astronomer-pushes-science-forward-planetary-exploration

Her page at the James Webb Space Telescope website: https://jwst.nasa.gov/meet-hammel.html



Luu, Jane (1963 - )

Bartusiak, Marcia “The Remarkable Odyssey of Jane Luu” in Astronomy, Feb. 1996, p. 46.

Davies, John Beyond Pluto: Exploring the Outer Limits of the Solar System. Chapter 4 features Luu’s life and work.

Flamsteed, Sam “"Where Comets Come from - Hubble Space Telescope Provides Evidence for Kuiper Belt" in Discover, Nov. 1995. On-line: http://discovermagazine.com/1995/nov/wherecometscomef583 (Includes some about her life and early work.)

Web Site:

Interview from 2003 (with a lot of biographical information) at Imagiverse Site: http://www.imagiverse.org/interviews/janeluu/jane_luu_21_03_03.htm

Brief autobiography at the Shaw Prize site: http://shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=92&threeid=208&fourid=348&fiveid=170

Career profile at the Science magazine site: http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2012/10/no-starry-eyed-astronomer

Transcript of her Kavli Prize talk: http://www.kavliprize.org/sites/default/files/Jane_Luu_manuscript.pdf

 Brief 2012 video of her and David Jewitt’s Shaw Prize lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypKWDKWRzyY

2012 Talk to the Rosalind Franklin Society on the Kuiper Belt (with some personal memories): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5pnR002y6k


Max, Claire (1946 - )

Her page at the University of California Observatories: http://www.ucolick.org/~max/

Article on her receiving the 2004 E.O. Lawrence Award: http://currents.ucsc.edu/04-05/09-27/max_award.asp

3-minute video with Freeman Dyson describing her role in the rise of adaptive optics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ntfOaqKHFU

Finkbeiner, Ann “Astronomy: Laser Focus” in Nature, 21 Jan 2015. (Claire Max has transformed the capabilities of telescopes.) On the web at: https://www.nature.com/news/astronomy-laser-focus-1.16741

2015 News Release on being appointed Director of the U. of California Observatories: https://news.ucsc.edu/2015/08/uco-director.html

A Basic Tutorial on Adaptive Optics (2012): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VWFcy6_Ij8

Max, Claire: “A Sharper Image” talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stAGLke6XDU&t=84s


Porco, Carolyn (1953 - )

Dowrett, A. “Science and Spirituality: An Interview with Carolyn Porco” in The Humanist, Jan/Feb. 2008.

Overbye, Dennis “An Odyssey from the Bronx to Saturn’s Rings” (a Sep. 21, 2009 New York Times profile): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/space/22prof.html

Porco, Carolyn “Cassini at Saturn” in Scientific American, Oct. 2017. On the web at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cassini-at-saturn-a-retrospective/

Porco, Carolyn “A Week in the Life of CP” in The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 10, 2016. On the web at: http://carolynporco.com/in-the-news/popular-writings/week-in-the-life-of-carolyn-porco-wsj.html

Web Sites:

Her biography at her own website: http://carolynporco.com/about/biography/

Her biography on the Edge website: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/porco.html

1999 Profile in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081799sci-nasa-cassini-2.html

2005 Profile by Bjorn Carey: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/02/15/saturn.astronomer/index.html 

Her talk on Cassini at the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures (2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx135n8VFxY 

Her entry at the Encyclopedia of World Biography:https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2005-La-Pr/Porco-Carolyn.html

Her talk to Pop!Tech in 2005 (podcast): http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail767.html#

Her talk to the TED Conference (Mar. 2007):http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/carolyn_porco_flies_us_to_saturn.html

2014 Appearance on StarTalk with Neil Tyson:https://www.startalkradio.net/show/madame-saturn-a-conversation-with-carolyn-porco-part-1/

2017 Article about Her and Space Images at Time.com: http://time.com/4894102/voyager-anniversary-photos/


Sargent, Anneila (1942 - )

Gallagher, Paul “Anneila Sargent: The Woman from Fife who Advises the White House” in The Independent, Apr. 13, 2013: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/anneila-sargent-the-woman-from-fife-who-advises-the-white-house-8572137.html

Goldsmith, Donald The Astronomers. 1991, St. Martin’s Press. See Chapter 12 of this book, which focuses on the work of a few astronomers at the frontiers of science.

Sommerville, Iain “From Burtisland to the Outer Limits: The Journey of Anneila Cassells [Sargent]” (mostly about her early life): http://www.burntisland.net/sargent.htm

Web sites:

Her page at Caltech: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/people/faculty/Anneila_Sargent.html

Her 2015 talk in Edinburgh on “Make it Happen: Women into Science” (with a bit about her own career): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnA-L1FVYz8

2017 Profile in the Courier (a UK Newspaper): https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/176569/fife-born-professor-anneila-sargent-superstar-american-astronomy/


Seager, Sara (1971 - )

Jones, Chris “The Woman Who Might Find Us Another Earth” in New York Times Magazine, Dec. 7, 2016. On the web at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/magazine/the-world-sees-me-as-the-one-who-will-find-another-earth.html

Powell, Corey “Sara Seager’s Tenacious Drive to Discover Another Earth” in Smithsonian, May 2014. On the web at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/driven-make-most-her-time-planet-mit-astronomer-has-set-audacious-goal-180951174/

Seager, Sara “So Many Exoplanets, So Few Women Astronomers” (an article in the Huffington Post Jan.

2013 about the hardship that constant travel imposes on women scientists with small children): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-seager/women-in-science_b_2471980.html

Seager, Sara Is There Life Out There: The Search for Habitable Exoplanets (her 48-page, 2009, self- published popular-level intro, as a free PDF): https://www.saraseager.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/book-is-there-life-out-there.pdf

Web Sites:

Her website: https://www.saraseager.com/

Short Profile at AAAS website: http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/member-spotlight/sara-seagers-search-earth-planets

Brief 2017 Interview on Women in Astronomy site: http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/01/meet-your-cswa-sara-seager.html

2017 Talk at Google “Mapping Nearby Stars for Habitable Exoplanets”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyfCukKVjC0

Her page at the MacArthur Foundation: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/903/

Interview at Space.com 2013 on the Drake Equation: https://www.space.com/22648-drake-equation-alien-life-seager.html?cid=51463011558824

Interview at the Physics Today site Feb. 2019: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.4.20190227a/full/

2015 TED Talk on the Search for Life on Other Earths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYqK9lAxic

2013 TED Talk on the Search for Real Alien Life:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnM4SaGc8R0

2015 Interview at MIT’s Infinite History Project (with reminiscences about her own life):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O9nvqn1iLs

2016 Nature Video “Back to the Thesis” (asks her to review what events led to her thesis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk9VdAXeZiY

10 Tips for Undergraduate Women Science Students (from Astronomer Sara Seager): http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-guide/2010/08/11/10-tips-for-women-students- in-science-fields


Shoemaker, Carolyn (1929 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Shoemaker.

Levy, David "Star Trails: Carolyn Shoemaker" in Sky & Telescope, June 1991, p. 658.

Levy, David Shoemaker by Levy: The Man who Made an Impact. 2000, Princeton U. Press. Biography of Eugene Shoemaker, but with much information about Carolyn’s work.

Preston, Richard First Light. 1987, Atlantic Monthly Press. Section 2 is a profile of the Shoemakers. Reeves, R. "Interview with Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker: Meteor Crater to Palomar" in Astronomy, June 1993, p. 13.

Shoemaker, Carolyn “Ups and Downs in Planetary Astronomy” in Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, vol. 27, p. 1 (1999). Reminiscences about her career.

Web Sites:

Biography at USGS Page: https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/people/carolyn-shoemaker

1994 Article from New Scientist, with history and reactions to the discover of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_shoemaker_a.htm

Brief Biography at the Harcourt School Site: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/biographies_science/shoemaker/

Her 1998 Essay from Science Magazine on Space Exploration (with some thoughts about her own life and work): http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/282/5394/1637

2-min video with advice for young women going into astronomy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AADENDV2Z8

Page about here and her story about her husband at Story Corps: https://storycorps.org/stories/carolyn-shoemaker-and-phred-salazar-160708/



Stofan, Ellen (1961 - )

Stofan, E. “Venus: The Way We Might Have Been” in Stern, S.A., ed. Our Worlds: The Magnetism and Thrill of Planetary Exploration. 1999, Cambridge U. Press; pp. 31-45. Combines a discussion of the exploration of Venus with autobiographical information on her development as a scientist.

Web Sites:

Her page when she was Chief Scientist at NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocs/stofan_bio.html

Jan. 2017 Christian Science Monitor story about her resignation as Chief Scientist: https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Spacebound/2017/0104/Why-is-chief-NASA-scientist-Ellen-Stofan-stepping-down(Also a story in Wired: https://www.wired.com/2017/01/dont-turn-earth-venus- warns-nasa-ex-chief-scientist-ellen-stofan/)

Apr. 2017 story about her at Motherboard: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/538xwa/ellen-stofan-former-nasa-chief-scientist

Her 2013 Interview at SpaceNews: http://spacenews.com/37599profile-ellen-stofan-nasa-chief-scientist/

Her talk on Mars Exploration at the Royal Institution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ufMGhA2e0

Announcement of her becoming Director of the Air and Space Museum, 2018: https://www.space.com/40257-ellen-stofan-national-air-space-museum.html

“Lecture on Exploring Titan by Boat” (at the Denver Museum of Natural History 2012, 1 hr, 18 min):http://vimeo.com/44046816

JPL Podcast with Slides on YouTube (about lakes on Titan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PP5hSbwHXQ (Transcript at: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/jpl-cassini-20070103.html )

News announcement being named NASA Chief Scientist, July 2013: http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/july/nasa-welcomes-new-chief-scientist/#.UfbSwo3CZ8E

Video where she explains a proposed mission to study the lakes of Titan; a bit technical (2011, 9 min): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkYIdhvdyWU


Tarter, Jill (1944 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Tarter.

Drake, Frank & Sobel, Dava Is Anyone Out There? 1992, Delacorte/Bantam. Page 152 ff. Has a number of discussions of Tarter’s life and work, especially in Chapters 7 & 10.

Ferron, Karri “Brief Interview with Jill Tarter” in Astronomy, Dec. 2009, p. 10.

Hayes, Jacqui “Silent Witness (profile of Jill Tarter)” in Cosmos magazine, Apr. 2010. On web at: https://web.archive.org/web/20100801135435/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/3593/silent-witness

Jackson, Ellen Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2005, Houghton Mifflin. A profile of Tarter and her work for young people in grades 4-8.

Lubick, N. “An Ear to the Stars” in Scientific American, Nov. 2002, p. 42. A brief profile of Tarter and her SETI work.

Scoles, Sarah Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2017, Pegasus. A popular-level book with the story of her life and work.

Swift, David "Interview with Jill Tarter" in SETI Pioneers. 1990, U. of Arizona Press. 

Web Sites:

Brief 2004 Profile on CNN Site: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/04/15/tarter/index.html

2017 Interview on the KQED Forum program about her work: https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2017/07/18/pioneering-astronomer-jill-tarter-on-making-contact-with-alien-life/

“Will the 21st Century be the Time we Discover Life Beyond Earth?” Her 2017 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYcM0BOYHyw

Interview at the U. of Washington in 2015 (37 min): https://www.washington.edu/alumni/at-length-with-jill-cornell-tarter/

Her TED Prize lecture (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszGIvRdgTE

Nov. 2007 Interview for the KQED TV show Questhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwEm3WHvNHI

The Search for Cosmic Company (her 2011 TEDX Talk at USC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpJoEmyZs

2012 Talk on “The World We Dream”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EABW8WVTV0

2012 Interview at Space.com: https://www.space.com/15803-jill-tarter-seti-search-retirement-qanda.html

2017 Interview on NPR’s Science Friday: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/still-searching-for-a-sign-of-life/

2017 Interview on NPR’s Science Friday: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/still-searching-for-a-sign-of-life/


Trimble, Virginia (1943 - )

Feder, Toni “Q&A: Virginia Trimble on Fifty Plus Years in Astronomy” for Physics Today, 2018: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/action/showDoPubSecure?doi=10.1063/PT.6.4.20180313a&format=full

Scoles, Sara “The Woman Who Knows Everything about the Universe” in Wired magazine, 2018: https://www.wired.com/story/the-woman-who-knows-everything-about-the-universe/

Trimble, Virginia Visit to a Small Universe. 1992, American Institute of Physics Press. A collection of her articles, including several that bear on her own life and work.

Trimble, V. “Affirmative Action and Women in Science” in The Scientist, Sep. 1996: https://www.the- scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/18033/title/Affirmative-Action-And-Women-In-Science--Post- Hoc--Ergo-Propter-Hoc-/

Trimble, V. “Anybody But Hubble” (After-dinner talk on who discovered the expansion of the universe): https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1307/1307.2289.pdf

Web Sites:

Her page at U. of California, Irvine: https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3060 Interview on the “Science and Society” podcast: http://www.scienceandsociety.net/audio/trimble.mp3 

Transcript of a brief interview about telescopes (with a bit about her life) on ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2000/148938.htm

Her “Top 10” lists for the astronomy of the past and future: http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200010/astronomy.cfm

Honors from the AAS and the IAU: https://aas.org/posts/news/2018/02/virginia-trimble-honored-aas-and-iau

Wolff, Sidney (1941 - )

Waldrop, Mitchell “New Director Named for Kitt Peak” in Science, vol. 224, p. 265 (Apr. 20, 1984). 

Wolff, Sidney “A Search for Aperture: A Selective History of Telescopes” in Mercury (the magazine of theAstronomical Society of the Pacific), Sep/Oct. 1985, p. 139.

Wolff, Sidney The Boundless Universe: Astronomy in the New Age of Discovery. 2016, Rio Nuevo. An illustrated, popular-level introduction to observatories, telescopes, and their discoveries.

Wolff, Sidney, et al. Astronomy. 2016, OpenStax. A free open-source introductory astronomy textbook on which she is one of the three lead authors. http://openstax.org/details/astronomy

Web Sites:

Wolff, Sidney “Cautions for Astronomy’s Golden Age” (partly autobiographical reflections, 1987): http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/9063/title/Cautions-for-Astronomy-s-Golden-Age/

Announcement of her AAS Education Prize: http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr06/pr0605.html Her speech for the 100th anniversary of the American Astronomical Society (pdf file): https://aas.org/archives/BAAS/v32n2/wolff.pdf

Oral History Interview at the American Institute of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/23363-1

Announcement of a vista point at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory being named for her: https://www.noao.edu/news/2010/pr1001.php

Her 2013 talk at York High School, where she was once a student: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QftuoG4x4qY

7. Sampling of Articles/Books/Webpages about Other Individual Women Astronomers

A special issue of the on-line magazine Sky’s Up in Jan. 2018 was devoted to women in astronomy: https://view.joomag.com/skys-up-january-february-2018/0999470001513909897

Bagenal, Fran: Interview at NASA Science: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/1480/fran-bagenal/

Bagenal, Fran: Women in Planetary Science (interview): https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/women-in-planetary-science-meet-fran-bagenal/

Baliunas, Sallie: see Flamsteed, Sam "Star Spots: The Work of Sallie Baliunas" in Discover, Dec. 1991, p.29.

Boesgaard, Ann "One Woman's Journey" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Jan/Feb. 1992, p. 19.

Dupree, Andrea: Brief Interview in Astronomy, Sep. 2009, p. 10.

Conklin, Nan Dieter: Two Paths to Heaven’s Gate. 2006, NRAO Archives, 520 Edgemont Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22903. A memoir by a pioneering radio astronomer. See also:

DeVorkin, David “Interview with Nan Dieter-Conklin” 1977, for the Center for the History of Physics: http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4573.html

Cordova, France: My Hero Project: (includes biographical information and interview): http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=dr_france_cordova

Donahue, Megan “Clusters of Galaxies and the Fate of the Universe (or How to be a Cosmologist without Really Trying” in Stern, S. Alan, ed. Our Universe: The Thrill of Extragalactic Exploration as Told by Leading Experts. 2001, Cambridge U. Press; pp. 107-126. Combines a discussion of her work and her development as a scientist.

Holbrook, Jarita: Sasso, Anne “Jarita Holbrook, Guiding Star” at the Science magazine website: https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2007/06/jarita-holbrook-guiding-star

Hu, Esther “Looking Back in Time: Searching for the Most Distant Galaxies” in Stern, S. Alan, ed. Our Universe: The Thrill of Extragalactic Exploration as Told by Leading Experts. 2001, Cambridge U. Press; pp. 23-36. Combines a discussion of her work and her development as a scientist.

Kaspi, Victoria: Short profile and interview in the McGill Reporter, 2001: http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/33/09/additions/kaspi/

Kaspi, Victoria: Article in the Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/victoria-kaspi

Kinney, Anne: see Schomaker, W. “NASA’s Visionary” in Astronomy, Jan. 2005, p. 48. Interview and profile.

Lopes, Rosaly (a brief biography and interview in Volcano World):

http://volcanoworld.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/rosaly-lopes/

Lopes, Rosaly: discusses her work on “Through the Eyes of Scientists” (3 min, 2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntCPur1SQ4Y

Ma, Chung-Pei: talk on her work on monster black holes in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN9oYjNKBm8&t=2s

Ma, Chung-Pei: an Introductions Necessaryhttps://introductionsnecessary.com/2016/08/24/chung-pei-ma/

Mainzer, Amy: her work with PBS to get young girls into science: https://www.fastcompany.com/3056446/how-pbs-and-nasas-amy-mainzer-are-getting-more-girls-into-science

Mayall, Margaret: Gingerich, Owen: Transcript of a 1986 Interview for the Center for the History of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28323-1

McFadden, Lucy: My Hero Project (short discussion of her work and how she got into astronomy): http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Lucy_Mcfadden_06

Meadows, Victoria: Wolchover, Natalie “Victoria Meadows’ Earthly Vision for Alien Life” in Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/victoria-meadows-earthly-visions-of-alien-life-20180605/

Meadows, Victoria: receives the Drake Award from the SETI Institute: https://www.geekwire.com/2018/seti-institutes-drake-award-goes-univ-washington-astrobiologist-victoria-meadows/

Meech, Karen: TED Talk on Oumuamua: https://www.ted.com/talks/karen_j_meech_the_story_of_oumuamua_the_first_visitor_from_another_star_system

O’Halloran, Rose: Web article by Richard Taibi: http://www.usskyhistory.blogspot.com (scroll down to the July 18, 2012 entry in this blog; O’Halloran was an astronomer and educator in San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th century and the first woman board member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific).

Payne-Scott, Ruby: Goss, Miller Making Waves: The Story of Ruby Payne-Scott: Australian Pioneer Radio Astronomer. 2013, Springer.

Richards, Mercedes: Eshleman, Adams “Mercedes Richards: Stellar Detective” (Penn State University news story 2009): http://news.psu.edu/story/141653/2009/08/05/research/stellar-detective-profile-professor-mercedes-richards

Speck, Angela: “You Can’t Take the Sky Away from Me” (profile article): https://unearthedmag.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/you-cant-take-the-sky-away-from-me-mu-astronomy-professor-angela-speck-says/

Urry, Meg: Essay at CNN site on her career and how bias holds women back:https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/opinion/urry-women-science/index.html

Weaver, Kimberly: Alumni Spotlight: https://web.archive.org/web/20070430214148/ http://alumni.wvu.edu/spotlight/view/kim_weaver/

Photograph of living women astronomers
Screen_Shot_2019-08-19_at_8.56.38_PM.pngPhotograph of living women astronomers

Photograph of living women astronomers


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