Born on May 15th 1857 in Dundee, Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming became one of the leading lights in astronomy.
Her father had died when she was seven; at 14, she had become a student teacher to help support her mother and siblings.
When she was 20, she had married a Dundee bank employee and widower, James Orr Fleming, 16 years her senior—who would abandon her and their unborn child shortly after they emigrated to the United States a year later.
Willamina worked as a maid in the home of Professor Edward Charles Pickering, who was director of the Harvard College Observatory. The story was told that Pickering was often frustrated with the performance of the (all-male) “computers” at the observatory and, reportedly, would complain loudly: “My Scottish maid could do better!” And so it was she went to work for him at Harvard.
Fleming became a full time employee at the observatory in 1881 despite a lack of any math, astronomy, or physics background. She eventually became the first woman to be designated Curator of Astronomical Photographs in 1899. This was the first corporate appointment of a woman at Harvard ever.
Fleming contributed to the cataloging of stars that later were published as the Henry Draper Catalogue. In nine years’ effort she cataloged more than 10,000 stars. During her career she discovered 59 gaseous nebulae, over 310 variable stars, and 10 novae. In 1907 she published a list of 222 variable stars she had discovered.
In 1888, Fleming she made her most well known discovery, the Horsehead Nebula. I’ve shortened this a bit but you can read more about her in this Harvard Magazine article here. http://harvardmagazine.com/2017/01/williamina-fleming
Each one of my pieces I make to be an entire tiny world, that one can carry on him or her. This miniature world pendant is of a man observing the marvels of the cosmos through his telescope. Astronomy has been the most ancient spiritual and scientific endeavor of man, his pursuit to understand the universe, its motions and how they correlate with the changes in the seasons and the rhythm of his own life. From standing stones, the calendar, navigation, to the telescope and the observation of deep space with modern technology, it has been one of the most important aspects in the evolution of human civilization itself.
The telescope is made out of tiny watch parts and the entire piece is closed with glass on the front.
ADELAIDE AMES was a twentieth-century lady astronomer full of the awesome.
She completed her undergraduate education at Vassar College before graduating from Radcliffe College (the first woman at Radcliffe to receive an M.A. in Astronomy!) in 1924. While at Harvard, she and Harlow Shapley worked together to complete the Shapley-Ames catalog, which listed galaxies brighter than the 13th magnitude and whose data challenged the assumption of the universe’s isotropy.
At the age of 32, Ames drowned in a boating accident. Her friend and fellow astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin remembered her as “young, lovely, and intensely vital” and “the closest friend [she] ever made at the Observatory.”[1]
You might have thought that the Oscars would have been peak astrofashion, maybe that’s because you didn’t know there was a SPACE PROM (I didn’t!), aka the Goddard Memorial Dinner. Fabulously attired attendees flaunted not one, not two, but three Tadashi Shoji pieces!
But wait, there’s still more, because as Kellie shared on her Instagram (and I awkwardly screenshot), she owns not just both capes, but also the Callisto, Neptune, and a third dress we will showcase shortly…
Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft carrying NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy & Roscosmos Cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin & Ivan Vagner safely rendezvoused & docked with the ISS.
i rly rly wanna be an astronomer and have a gf who’s into astrology so i can point the constellations out to her and she can tell me about what it means for the future
Close up on a copper engraving “Temperance” (1560) by Phillip Galle after Bruegel. The detail and many concurrent stories happening in these pictures are mind-boggling. There is a one for each the deadly sins and the virtues too. Some of them are very NSFW (and instagram), but are at the same time amusing and satirical as well as quite hellish… On loan from the @albertinamuseum - - #Breugel #Kunsthistorischesmuseum #kunsthistorisches #Wien #temperance #engraving #art @kunsthistorischesmuseumvienna #albertina #Vienna #arthistory #deadlysins #virtue #religiousart #austria #InstaMuseum #instart #instawien #museum #museen #astronomer #satire #rotterdam #temperantia #moon (at Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqhv4XDlTvw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=8e50w92k4l4n
On This Day in Herstory, August 31st 1869, Mary Ward, an Irish scientist, astronomer, author and artist, died at the age of 42; she is the first person known to have been killed by a motor vehicle.
Just like most girls at the time, Ward and her sisters were educated at home, however, she came from a family that was renowned for its scientific prowess; and as such, from a young age she developed an interest in the natural world. Ward dabbled in astronomy, her cousin was crucial in the construction of a reflecting telescope with a six-foot mirror; at every stage of construction Ward produced detailed sketches of the instrument, these sketches were essential in the recent restoration of the telescope.
Ward also enjoyed creating highly detailed sketches of insects, this interest led to her procurement of a microscope. She read everything she could find about microscopy and became a self taught expert. She even went as far as to make her own slides using ivory, as glass was not easy to secure at the time. Despite her passions and education, Universities and societies would not accept women into their ranks at this time. Ward pursued knowledge in every way that was in her means, frequently writing to scientists to ask about papers they had written.
In 1857 Ward decided to make her knowledge public, however found it difficult to find a publisher that accepted the scientific workings of women. She chose to publish her first book privately, and after some success the work was released again under a new publisher; this work was reprinted eight times due to its success. She published several articles and a few more books, with two of her publications being chosen to go on display at the international exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1862.
Her death at such a young age was a tremendous loss to the scientific community, as she proved herself as one of the best known authors on the use of a microscope.
The three hundred year old prototype of one of the two Jai Prakash Yantra at Jantar Mantar, Jaipur. #Prototype #Exquisite #Details #Beaut #Beautiful #Astronomer #Celestial #Yantra #JaiPrakash #JantarMantar #MaharajaSawaiJaiSinghII #WhenIsSpace #JawaharKalaKendra #Jaipur #JaipurDiaries #JaipurJournal #Rajasthan #India #Wanderer #Wanderlust #Travel #Travelogue #TravelDiaries (at JKK-Jaipur, Jawahar Kala Kendra) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnVMMCVlra9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=l0pdwqg9fsec
![Mind Map #59: [WHO WILL I BECOME?] https://www.facebook.com/thisfoldedmind](https://64.media.tumblr.com/ccbbe843fb6b5a9cfd338bc0c001c44d/tumblr_mz20ixWQIP1ru4tgjo1_640.jpg "Mind Map #59: [WHO WILL I BECOME?] https://www.facebook.com/thisfoldedmind")
