Maria (pronounced Ma-RYE-ah) Mitchell (1818-1889), America’s first female professor of astronomy, was born August 1, 1818 on Nantucket Island (Massachusetts). Her interest in astronomy was encouraged by her father, and she assisted him with his research at a time when few women were allowed an opportunity to do scientific research. She discovered a comet in 1847 at the age of 29, and this brought her fame as one of America’s few women scientists. She was employed for many years as a computer (a person who performs lengthy mathematical calculations), and then taught astronomy at Vassar College for many years (1865-1888), a women’s college in Poughkeepsie, New York. At Vassar, she was also the director of the Vassar College Observatory. A devoted teacher, she believed that students learn best by doing real research projects. In 1869, she traveled to Burlington, Iowa with six of her students to observe a total solar eclipse.
Seven years after the death of Maria Mitchell, her sister, Phebe Mitchell Kendall, (1828-1907) compiled a book, Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals (1896).
The Maria Mitchell Observatory was established on Nantucket Island in 1908, and today continues its long legacy of public outreach and undergraduate research.
“When we are chafed and fretted by small cares, a look at the stars will show us the littleness of our own interests.”
“We travel to learn; and I have never been in any country where they did not do something better than we do it, think some thoughts better than we think, catch some inspiration from heights above our own.”
“Question everything.”
“The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious, and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.”
Quotes by Maria Mitchell