BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Edward Charles Pickering *new*

Edward Pickering was a leading light of 19th century astronomy who made the Harvard College Observatory into an institution with an international reputation. He was honored for his work by scientific societies in several countries, but his name is now known from his employing “Pickering's harem”.

Edward Charles Pickering

Pickering's decision to hire women at Harvard College Observatory is quite a story. It was essentially for economic reasons - their pay was less than half that of men - so he could get more workers for the same money. However he wouldn't have hired them if he hadn't thought they were competent.

He was ridiculed for his decision and the women were dismissed as "Pickering's Harem". Yet many of them were more than competent.

Annie Cannon had a master's degree in astronomy.

Oh! Be a fine girl (guy)--kiss me! This is the traditional mnemonic for the way stars are classified: OBAFGKM. Find out about the astronomer and suffragette who devised the system and who said that astronomical spectroscopy made it "almost as if the distant stars had acquired speech."

Another of the Harvard computers was Henrietta Leavitt. This isn't a well known name, even though she made one of the most important discoveries of 20th century astronomy. Previously, astronomers could only measure distances up to 100 light years, but her work extended that to 10 million light years. Edwin Hubble used this discovery to show that the Andromeda Nebula was actually a another galaxy, not part of the Milky Way.

Leavitt was also the discoverer of over half of the variable stars known in her lifetime. Yet her life left almost no footprints on history. Her biography Miss Leavitt's Stars contrasts the solidity of her professional accomplishment with the butterfly touch of her life.