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
Yay! Vera Rubin! Yay! Stephen Hawking!
I'll go back to my studies now.
Margarita
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 10:17 pm
by Ann
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
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 1:39 am
by rstevenson
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
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 2:36 am
by Beyond
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
So it was all those glazed-over eyes that gave you the idea to make 's
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 3:20 am
by saturno2
The knowledge should be for all, without discrimination of sex,
race, age, religion, economic status.
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:30 am
by MargaritaMc
saturno2 wrote:The knowledge should be for all, without discrimination of sex,
race, age, religion, economic status.
Absolutely!!
What seriously shocked me was how very recently Rubin was discriminated against and how recently the bar was lifted!
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
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:42 am
by MargaritaMc
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).
Has anyone read his Mr Tompkins books? They sound delightful and are still in print.
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.
Margarita
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 9:14 am
by Ann
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
This is all depressingly true, Margarita.
A friend of mine is an amazing collector of books. Visiting his and his partner Eva's apartment is like entering a mysterious maze of books, cats (there are four of them), odd pieces of knight's armors, old sabers and little this-and-thats from various parts of the world.
So he owns this amazing collection of books, many of them hundreds of years old. Among them are yearbooks describing life in Sweden, the oldest from the 18th century. As I was leafing through one of these very old tomes, I came across a reprinted 18th century newspaper article about a fifteen-year-old German duchess who was shipped over to Sweden to get married to the circa 35-year-old Swedish king!!!! And the reporter who wrote the article complained that the duchess seemed so childish, blowing soap bubbles and dangling her legs and giggling and what not on the journey across the Baltic Sea over to Sweden!!!
But in a way it was even more depressing to leaf through a volume describing life in Sweden between 1918 and circa 1925. In 1919, women in Sweden got the right to vote. I decided I would read what the contemporary newspapers wrote about this important breakthrough for equal rights between men and women. I turned page after page, but I couldn't find even a mention of this historical legal breakthrough, much less a comment on it. So I started from the beginning again, turning page after page, reading slowly and carefully. Finally I found it. It was a tiny news item, with a headline which read something like "The proposal from the (parliament? one of the political parties? Attorney General?) was accepted". The "proposal", of course, was to give women the right to vote. This legal breakthrough was treated like something that was so unimportant and even perhaps ill-advised that it was best to ignore it altogether and hope it would sort of go away.
1919 isn't that long ago, less than a hundred years ago.
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.
I've included that because I'd never heard of Maria Mitchell, and also because it's a rather good image of her.
More information here:
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
I've quoted the above because Ms Fleming discovered the nebulosity known as Pickering's Triangle in yesterday's Apod, the Witch's Broom Nebula.
There is a nice image of Pickering's (or Fleming's?) Triangle in this Apod
And here is a picture of Ms Fleming and a little more information
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.
So she was a really distinguished and important astronomer!!!
Here, have a posthumous Nobel Prize in physics for your efforts - you deserve it!
Ann
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 4:47 pm
by MargaritaMc
Yes - isn't it STAGGERING! It was SHE who discovered the
HORSE HEAD NEBULA
I am, well,
Margarita
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 5:25 pm
by Ann
The Horse head Nebula????
Okay, now I know that the horse is a mare for sure!!!
Ann
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 5:45 pm
by Beyond
No wonder when it's observed in infrapink, it looks like this...
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 5:55 pm
by Ann
Fleming. Fleming. I know I've come across that name in astronomy before. And with my interests, it isn't likely I would have paid much attention if that name had been mentioned in connection with nebulae. No, her name must have turned up in connection with stars. A quick search turned up nothing, however. Googling "Fleming designation" took me to James Bond!
Ann
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 6:37 pm
by MargaritaMc
WILLAMINA PATON STEVENS FLEMING.
I've become fascinated by this wonderful woman,
so here is some more of what I have discovered about her.
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.
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."
Her handwritten journal is available here It is difficult to read on screen, despite her handwriting being regular and legible, but Harvard will email a PDF copy free of charge.
The discovery of this woman and her hugely impressive achievements had already impressed me greatly: finding out the domestic background against which this was set has been quite jaw-dropping.
Margarita
PS As the captain says in the film "Galaxy Quest": 'Never give in. Never surrender.'... Although it's a spoof movie, I think that motto is amply evidenced by Ms Fleming of blessed memory.
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 6:41 pm
by MargaritaMc
PS. Ann - although Willamina catalogued more than 200 stars, whatever makes you think that the designation would be "Fleming"?
I wonder how IMpossible it would be to locate all those stars - including the first ever discovered White Dwarfs - and make a retrospective catalogue? Simply to honour her.
PPS. If you Google Willamina Fleming, one must give Google credit for the fact that they note very prominently (in the short info paragraph they give in addition to the search results) that she is the discoverer of The Horsehead Nebula.
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:09 am
by Ann
I think I must have come across her name in connection with this:
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.
And if you catalog 10,000 stars (which is no small achievement in itself) and if you also "look twice" at them, you might possibly discover that 222 of them are variable.
Amazing woman!
Ann
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:15 pm
by Ann
Read about planetary nebula Fleming 1 here. The planetary is named after... you guessed it.
Ann
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 9:02 pm
by Beyond
I also liked the Enterprise pizza cutter in the AD i had to click through to get to Fleming's Nebula.
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 BraunRedstone/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.>>
Re: I've got to post this or I'll burst!
Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:36 pm
by geckzilla
Are those a bunch of men just relaxing on the edge of the carrier deck, there?