Maria Mitchell

1818-1889

Maria Mitchell grew up in the whaling town of Nantucket, Massachusetts. She grew up learning about the stars and navigation. As a young woman she could rate the chronometers for whaling ships, and plot the movement of the planets.

Maria Mitchell began her first career as a librarian in Nantucket at the young age of 18. She used the rooftops of the library building to continue her astronomic observations. In 1847, she discovered a comet that was visible to the naked eye. This won her international fame and she was awarded a medal from the King of Denmark.

 Vassar College was founded in 1865, and Maria Mitchell joined the faculty as professor of astronomy and director of the   college observatory. She spent 23 years teaching at Vassar, and during those 23 years, she influenced and mentored many women in her astronomy class. Many of these went on to do work in Science. Among these women were Ellen Swallow Richards, Mary Whitney, Caroline Furness, and Antonia Maury. Maria Mitchell became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science and went on to found the Association for the Advancement of Women in 1873, chairing the Committee on Women's Work in Science until her death in 1889.

There is one quote that seems to sum up everything Maria Mitchell worked for in her life:"In my younger days, when I was pained by the half-educated, loose and inaccurate ways women had, I used to say, 'How much women need exact science.' But since I have known some workers in science who were not always true to the teachings of nature who have loved self more than science, I have now said, 'How much science needs women'."

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