Woman Astronomer Maria Mitchell
Keeping Her Eyes to the Stars, She Discovered a Comet
Born into a Quaker family in 1818, options for Mitchell were limited. Even though her father, William Mitchell, was progressive and open-minded for the time, career options for women in the 1800’s didn’t amount to much more than housewife, mother or teacher, save for those women determined to break free from those molds such as Mitchell herself.
Her father was an instrumental influence on Mitchell’s life. He encouraged his daughter’s natural curiosity and mathematical ability. He was a principal at North Grammar School but later built his own school. Mitchell was both student and her father’s teaching assistant. Learning, for Mitchell, extended beyond the classroom. Her father taught her astronomy at home using his own telescope. She helped her father calculate the moment of an annular eclipse when she was only twelve years old. At the age of fourteen, Mitchell could adjust a ships chronometer.
When her father’s school closed, Mitchell then went on to attend a school for young ladies run by Unitarian minister Cyrus Peirce. She also worked for Peirce as his teaching assistant, then opened her own school in 1835. Just a year after, she took a job as the first librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum, a private literary institution at the time. There she continued her studies independently by reading books on mathematics, languages and navigation that were available to her through the library.
Discovering a Comet
It wasn’t until the autumn of 1847 that Mitchell discovered “Miss Mitchell’s Comet” (Comet 1847 VI with a modern designation of c/1847 T1). Mitchell was awarded a gold medal prize from King Frederick VII in 1848 for her discovery. Caroline Herschel was the only other woman who had discovered a comet before Mitchell.
In 1848, Mitchell was elected the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences in 1850. (She was the only woman member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences until 1943). She was also a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1869.
In 1857, Mitchell traveled throughout the American West and South and then on to Europe with Prudence Swift, the daughter of a Chicago banker. She saw the observatories at Greenwich, Cambridge and the Vatican Observatory, although she did encounter resistance at a woman being allowed to enter.
Professor of Astronomy
In 1861, Mitchell was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Vassar Female College. She was also active in the women’s suffrage movement and often told her students, “First, no woman should say, 'I am but a woman.' But a woman! What more can you ask to be? Born a woman, born with the average brain of humanity, born with more than the average heart, if you are mortal what higher destiny could you have? No matter where you are nor what you are, you are a power. Your influence is incalculable."
Mitchell, who was friends with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, helped to co-found the American Association for the Advancement of Women. She served as president for the organization as well.
Mitchell walked away from her Quaker roots when she was disowned by the congregation. Mitchell did not care much for religion and made her opinions known when she was asked. She attended the Unitarian church afterwards, though she never became a member.
Mitchell was 70 years old when she died June 28, 1889.
Some former students, family members and others formed the Maria Mitchell Association in 1902. It is now part of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, an aquarium, science museum and preserves Mitchell’s birthplace and papers.
Sources:
Unitarian Universalist Historical Society
Maria Mitchell, woman astronomer.
|
Maria Mitchell (left) seated at her telescope.
|
Mitchell's telescope on display at the Smithsonian
|
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles