New-York tribune., 1906-10-18
WOMEN ASTRONOMERS.
They Have Received Higher Recognition
than ANY Other Feminine Scientists

ne names OF Mary SomervIle, the author q,
Inc mechanism of the Heavens and of Marta
Mitchell the Quakeress professor of vessar Col.
iese' nave long been identified with the sctenca
- 'iie heavens but until one sees it In cold type
oae is hardly prepared to believe that "wonoen
III astronomy have achieved greater success
nave met with more courteous recognition and
now occupy more prominent place in thar thar
III any other branch Of scientific activity" Such.
however, is the statement made by Dewev
1neiooh Tih Beebe, In the womens number of 1.-THE
1echnlcal World Magazine"
MISS Mitchell, who died in 1880 was oon
hectlng link between the old and the new as
eiy. GoiioLny. her fame was gained, says Mr. Beebe
largely through her mathema teal Attachments.
t t1u nel achieVements with the telescope, while
important. were made when that instrument was
oiiiy Toy compared with the great modern
Iilachlnes whose movable portions alone some-
times weigh three tons. The spectroscope and
camera were just assuming Importance in as
tronomy as her term in Vassar was drawing To
close. AS the practical astronomy had given
way 10 theoretical astronomy SO this in trrn
was recedlng before the tremendous strides of
the new descriptive astronomy-the science that
tells OF what the planets are made and what
are the conditions on their surfaces. And in this
new field of astro-physics.' as 1t is called
cupied by men,
Among the brilliant women "astro-physicists'
or the day are Mrs A s. D. Maunder, wife of
the superintendent of the solar department OF
the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Mrs.
Maunder has done individual work of importance
in observing sunspots and determining the phys
ical condition Of the earths source of light and
heat, and in 1898. in India, secured the first
photograph Of the outermost streamers of the
corona. For some years Mrs Maunder one
OF the computers at Greenwich and editor of
the Journal of the British Astronomical Asso-
citation"
Harvard has as the curator of astronomical
photographs at its observatory Mrs w. Patton
Fleming. who. with her fifteen women assistants,
is engaged in examining minutsly new photo
graphs of the heavens they made check
ing off known stars, looking for new ones. class-
flying them, etc. She has the record of discover
ing more stars through her Investigations than
any other person.
To Miss Dorothea Klumpke belongs the spec
tacular record Of having been proposed to while
making astronomical voyage in a balloon.
which woman astronomer can duplicate
among her varied experiences
This interesting episode. which occurred IN
1901 when she engaged in photographfng
the stars, has made her probably the most wide
ly noted astronomer In the world. The
tremendous task Of indexing and cataloguing all
the stars up to the fourteenth magnitude
assigned to her by the International Astronom-
ical Congress- and four assistants were given
her to carry the work.
Miss Mary Proctor daughter of the celebrated
astronomer Richard A Proctor and Mrs
Mabel I.oomis Todd. whose husband. Professor
David P Todd. is director Of the observatory at
Amherst College, are both well known as lectur-
ers In New York Miss Agnes Clerke, Lady
Huggfns Nine Ceraski, Miss Rose O'Halloran,
Miss M A Orr Miss Marguerite Palmer, Miss
Annie 7 Cannon and Miss Henrietta s. Leavitt
ore other women whose arhievenoar+e or6 ''7tir
ing devotion have enriched the worlds knowl-
edge Of the stars.