Starship Asterisk*

Vera Rubin got a scholarship to the prestigious women’s college Vassar, where she graduated as the only astronomy major in 1948. Applying to graduate schools, Rubin was told that “Princeton does not accept women” in the astronomy program . (That policy was not abandoned until 1975. ) Undaunted, Rubin applied to Cornell, where she studied physics under Philip Morrison, Richard Feynman, and Hans Bethe. She then went on to Georgetown University, where she earned her Ph.D. in 1954 (under George Gamow, who was nearby at George Washington University).

from the Guardian "However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up." Stephen Hawking

rstevenson wrote:George Gamow! A blast from the past...

Around the age of 20 or so, I walked around with a well-thumbed and several-times-read paperback copy of Gamow's "One Two Three ... Infinity" tucked into my back pocket until I wore it out. I used to pull it out and show passages to friends until their eyes glazed over.

Thanks for the memory!

Rob

saturno2 wrote:The knowledge should be for all, without discrimination of sex,
race, age, religion, economic status.

was not lifted until 1975 the year when I was awarded my Master of Arts degree

Ann wrote:Absolutely! Yay! Hurrah!

I like George Gamow, too. He's one of the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow astronomers who posted a seminal paper about... oh, I have forgotten what it was about, but it was important! And poor (Hans?) Bethe wasn't involved at all, but his name was added for the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow effect!

Glad to hear that Gamow didn't think that women couldn't do astronomy!

Ann

Good ole George Gamow!
Gamow produced an important cosmogony paper with his student Ralph Alpher, which was published as "The Origin of Chemical Elements" (Physical Review, April 1, 1948). This paper became known as the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow theory. Gamow had the name of Hans Bethe listed on the article as "H. Bethe, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York" to make a pun on the first three letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha, beta and gamma. Bethe was also known for his sense of humor, but had no other role in the α-β-γ paper, and his name had been added without his knowledge. Gamow's lifetime interest in playing pranks, punning, and doggerel verse come across in some of his popular writings, notably his Mr. Tompkins... series of books (1939–1967).

Mr Tompkins in Paperback
Cambridge University Press, Mar 26, 1993 - Science - 185 pages
Mr Tompkins has become known and loved by many thousands of readers (since his first appearance over fifty years ago) as the bank clerk whose fantastic dreams and adventures lead him into a world inside the atom. George Gamow's classic provides a delightful explanation of the central concepts in modern physics, from atomic structure to relativity, and quantum theory to fusion and fission. Roger Penrose's new foreword introduces Mr Tompkins to a new generation of readers, and reviews his adventures in the light of current developments in physics today.

MargaritaMc wrote: In the year that I was born, Vera Rubin was refused entry to Princeton.

The bar on women entering Princeton (or at least its astronomy program - I know nothing more about the university other than it is 'prestigious') was not lifted until 1975 the year when I was awarded my Master of Arts degree

Until I read this article, which was simply read in the course of my exploring Dark Matter (the existence of which Rubin established in the 1970s...), I simply assumed that, in the 'West', academic discrimination against women was not something that had featured in my lifetime. Which is why I was so shocked.

And, because I am a supporter of Malala Yousafzai, the right of women and girls freely to be educated is something that I realise is NOT a closed issue.

Margarita

My rough translation of a short excerpt from the Women Astronomers page in Astronomia-iniciacion

Maria or Mariel Mitchell (1818 - 1889) was the daughter of an astronomer. She was awarded a medal for the discovery of the comet which is named after her, and also sunspots, asteroids and the movements of the planets.

Maria Mitchell
Maria Mitchell (August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) (pron: ma-RY-ah) was an American astronomer, who in 1847, by using a telescope, discovered a comet which as a result became known as the "Miss Mitchell's Comet". She won a gold medal prize for her discovery which was presented to her by King Frederick VII of Denmark. The medal said “Not in vain do we watch the setting and rising of the stars”. Mitchell was the first American woman to work as a professional astronomer.

more from Astronomia-iniciación Professor Pickering, of Harvard University, employed a group of 21 20 women - known as Pickering's harem - to do the tedious work of classification and cataloguing of stellar spectra ...
[amongst these was] Williamina Fleming (1857 - 1911) who was the first woman employed at Harvard. She discovered white dwarfs, 10 novae, 52 nebulae and hundreds of variable stars

Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (May 15, 1857 – May 21, 1911) was a Scottish astronomer. During her career, she helped develop a common designation system for stars and catalogued thousands of stars and other astronomical phenomena. Fleming is especially noted for her discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888.

Harvard University Library writes this about Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (1857–1911)

Williamina Fleming (standing) presides over women computers at the Harvard College Observatory, 1891. From the collection of the Harvard University Archives.

Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was born in Dundee, Scotland, on May 15, 1857. Her talent in school was obvious from an early age, and at age 14 she began teaching in the Dundee public schools. In 1877 she married James Fleming, and a year later the couple immigrated to Boston to start a new life in America.

In 1879, when she was pregnant with her first child, James left her and their unborn son.

Only 23 years old and a single mother, Fleming found employment as the housekeeper for Edward Pickering, a professor of astronomy at Harvard and the director of the Harvard College Observatory.

Irritated by the poor work done by his male employees at the observatory, Pickering reportedly declared that his maid could do a better job, and shortly thereafter, in 1881, he hired Fleming to do some clerical work and mathematical calculations at the Observatory.

Fleming quickly proved Pickering right by developing a new system to classify stars according to their spectra, or the unique pattern of lines caused by the refraction of a star's light through a prism. Thanks to her new classification system, which became known as the "Pickering-Fleming System," Fleming cataloged over 10,000 stars within the next nine years. In 1890, she published her findings in the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra.

Pickering eventually put Fleming in charge of editing all studies published by the Harvard Observatory and allowed her to hire dozens of young women to support her expanding stellar exploration efforts. One of these young women was Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who later discovered how to measure the universe. In 1898, the Harvard Corporation appointed Fleming to be the curator of astronomical photographs at the Harvard College Observatory, making her the first woman to hold this important position.

During the course of her career, Fleming discovered 10 novae, 52 nebulae, and 310 variable stars—a remarkable achievement for someone without a formal education in astronomy.

Recognizing her contributions to the discipline, in 1906 the Royal Astronomical Society elected Fleming to its organization, the first time that prestigious body admitted an American woman. In 1910, she reached the pinnacle of her career by discovering white dwarfs, which are very hot and dense stars that are white in color.

On May 21, 1911, Fleming died of pneumonia in Boston, Massachusetts.

Some more information about Willamina Fleming, from Wikipedia

In 1881, Pickering hired Fleming to do clerical work at the observatory. While there, she devised and helped implement a system of assigning stars a letter according to how much hydrogen could be observed in their spectra. Stars classified as A had the most hydrogen, B the next most, and so on. Later, Annie Jump Cannon would improve upon this work to develop a simpler classification system based on temperature.

Fleming contributed to the cataloguing of stars that would be published as the Henry Draper Catalogue. In nine years, she catalogued more than 10,000 stars. During her work, 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 discovered the Horsehead Nebula on Harvard plate B2312, describing the bright nebula (later known as IC 434) as having "a semicircular indentation 5 minutes in diameter 30 minutes south of Zeta [Orionis]." The brother of Edward Pickering, William Henry Pickering, who had taken the photograph, speculated that the spot was dark obscuring matter. All subsequent articles and books seem to deny Fleming and W. H. Pickering credit, because the compiler of the first Index Catalogue, J. L. E. Dreyer, eliminated Fleming's name from the list of objects then discovered by Harvard, attributing them all instead merely to "Pickering" (taken by most readers to mean E. C. Pickering, director of Harvard College Observatory.)

By the release of the second Index Catalogue by Dreyer in 1908, Fleming and others at Harvard were famous enough to receive proper credit for later object discoveries—but not for IC 434 and the Horsehead, one of her early observations.

Fleming was placed in charge of dozens of women hired to do mathematical classifications and edited the observatory's publications. In 1899, Fleming was given the title of Curator of Astronomical Photographs. In 1906, she was made an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, the first American woman to be so elected. Soon after, she was appointed honorary fellow in astronomy of Wellesley College. Shortly before her death, the Astronomical Society of Mexico awarded her the Guadalupe Almendaro medal for her discovery of new stars.

She published A Photographic Study of Variable Stars (1907) and Spectra and Photographic Magnitudes of Stars in Standard Regions (1911).

Distinguished Women of the Past and Present notes that:
In 1907 she published a study of 222 variable stars she had discovered. A British astronomer made the following observation: "Many astronomers are deservedly proud to have discovered one...the discovery of 222...is an achievement bordering on the marvellous."

Thanks to her new classification system, which became known as the "Pickering-Fleming System," Fleming cataloged over 10,000 stars within the next nine years. In 1890, she published her findings in the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra.

Beyond wrote:
This is really Rocket Science, but it should go well here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23349135

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sherman_Morgan wrote:
<<After spending the war years designing explosives for the military, Mary Sherman Morgan (November 4, 1921 – August 4, 2004) was named the technical lead on the Wernher von Braun Redstone/Jupiter C propellant contract. Morgan's work resulted in a new invention, a Hydyne-LOX (liquid oxygen) fuel combination that Morgan whimsically called Bagel and LOX. The fuel was used with the Redstone rocket only once—to launch America's first satellite Explorer I, after which it was discontinued in favor of higher performing fuels. Hydyne fuel, a blend of 60% unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and 40% diethylenetriamine (DETA), was more powerful fuel than ethyl alcohol, but it was also more toxic.>>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Proteus_%28AC-9%29 wrote:
<<The collier USS Proteus (AC-9) was launched on 14 September 1912. The USS Proteus was [eventually] lost at sea to an unknown cause sometime after 23 November 1941. There are no German U-boat claims for this vessel. One theory is that the vessel's disappearance can be attributed to the Bermuda Triangle. Two of Proteus's three sister-ships, Cyclops and Nereus, also vanished without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle area while doing similar duty during World War I and World War II, respectively. Proteus's third sister-ship, the USS Jupiter, was converted into the very first U.S aircraft carrier and renamed Langley.>>