
Maria Mitchell
astronomer
Maria Mitchell wanted to be an astronomer from the time her father taught her to use a telescope at age 12. Her big break came 16 years later in 1847, when she discovered a new comet {which now bears her name} while scanning the skies one fateful October night.
Maria continued to study the cosmos while working as a librarian in her native Nantucket. Making a career out of her passion, she became the US's first female pro astronomer + first professor hired by Vassar College in 1865. There, the lauded scientist + civil rights activist inspired scores of female students to follow her lead. An advocate for original research, Maria never failed to ask ~ "Did you learn it from a book or did you observe it yourself?"
Miss Mitchell's Comet | a comet bears her name
barrier breaking | 1st female member of American Association for the Advancement of Science + American Academy of Arts and Scientists + American Philosophical Society
no-nonsense feminism | chaired the first National Women's Congress + fought for a pay raise at Vassar when she learned that less experienced male colleagues were making more money
"dome parties" | popular gatherings at the Vassar College Observatory
october 1, 1847 {10:30pm EST} | using a telescope, discovered and charted a comet
1865 | hired as the first professor at Vassar College
1873 | helped found American Association for the Advancement of Women + became its first president
from | to
librarian taught to use a telescope by her father | first female professional astronomer in the U.S.
born on
August 1, 1818
born in
Nantucket, Massachusetts
birth name
Maria Salmon Mitchell
~ her first name is pronounced ma-RYE-ah ~
also known as
Nantucket Athena
"the bright, unwavering star" {by the president of Vassar College}
"the computer of Venus"
~ so dubbed when she tracked the orbit of Venus when she worked for the U.S. Nautical Almanac {1849 to 1868} ~
the American Urania
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Lydia Coleman Mitchell + William Mitchell
~ Quakers known for providing equal educational opportunities for girls + boys ~
sister of
9 sisters + brothers
distant relative of
Benjamin Franklin
educated at
her father's school
Cyril Pierce's School for Young Ladies {taught for Pierce before opening her own school}
Nantucket's Atheneum Library {where she read up while working her first job}
loved studying
astronomy
~ photographed sun and stars with apparatus she devised ~
favorite planets
Jupiter + Saturn ~ researched their surfaces while at Vassar
other notable discoveries
sun spots weren't clouds, but "whirling vertical cavities"
influenced by
friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton + other suffragettes
advocate for
civil rights
education for women
science education
in her spare time
traveled to Europe with writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family
discussed politics + women's rights in the observatory dome at Vassar College
protested against slavery ~ including refusing to wear cotton clothing + allowing black children to attend school she started at 17
died on
June 28, 1889
{in Lynn, Massachusetts}
image credits
Popular Science Monthly | public domain
painting by H. Dassell | public domain
collapse bio bits"I am just learning to notice the different colors of the stars, and already beginning to have a new enjoyment."
Life, Letters and Journals | december 1852
"People have to learn sometimes not only how much the heart, but how much the head, can bear."
Life, Letters and Journals | october 1853
"The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited in power! We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us."
Life, Letters and Journals | october 1854
"Don't examine a black spot upon your pillow-case; go to sleep at once, and keep asleep if you can."
Life, Letters and Journals | may 1857
"The ocean must be unrepresentable to those who have not looked upon it."
Life, Letters and Journals | may 1857
"It is singular what a quiet motive-power science is, the breath of a nation's progress."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1858
"It seems to be difficult for any one to take in the idea that two truths cannot conflict."
Life, Letters and Journals | march 1858
"The phrase 'popular science' has in itself a touch of absurdity. That knowledge which is popular is not scientific."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1866
"When we are chafed and fretted by small cares, a look at the stars will show us the littleness of our own interests."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1866
"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but is somewhat beauty and poetry."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1871
"Living more nearly to Nature is living farther from the world and from its follies, but nearer to the world's people."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1871
"There will come with the greater love of science greater love to one another."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1871
"Born a woman—born with the average brain of humanity—born with more than the average heart—if you are mortal, what higher destiny could you have?"
Life, Letters and Journals | 1874
"No woman should say, 'I am but a woman!' But a woman! What more can you ask to be?"
Life, Letters and Journals | 1874
"For women there are, undoubtedly, great difficulties in the path, but so much the more to overcome."
Life, Letters and Journals | 1874
"Besides learning to see, there is another art to be learned—not to see what is not."
Life, Letters, and Journals | july 1878
"We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing."
Life, Letters and Journals | july 1878
for further reading about Maria Mitchell:
curated with care by Kathleen Murray {may 2015}
Maria's birthplace
Built in 1790 in Nantucket, Massachussets, this was the home where Maria first developed her passion for star-gazing...note the handy observation deck on its roof! Astronomy was a popular skill in the seatown because people used it for navigation. From the age of 14, Maria was a trusted advisor to sailors mapping routes.
Boston Public Library
CC BY
the young Maria Mitchell
This 1851 painting by Herminia Dassel depicts the young Maria looking through a telescope to the heavens. Her 1847 discovery of C/1847 T1 ~ aka "Miss Mitchell's Comet" ~ made her a minor international celebrity. Even before the King of Denmark awarded her with a gold medal for her service to science, the amateur astronomer was already sought out by New England sailors to help them chart out their journeys during long whaling expeditions.
H. Dassel
Public domain
Maria inside the dome of Vassar College Observatory
Maria was hired as Vassar's first professor in 1865. Here, the astronomer ~ at age 60 ~ poses with her protege, Mary Watson Whitney, inside the Vassar College Observatory. The observatory was also the place Maria + her father called home while she was a professor. {As for Mary, she would follow in her famous mentor's footsteps to become the observatory's next director.}
Eva March Tappan | Heroes of Progress
Public domain
Maria's famous mentors
Maria traveled throughout Europe extensively with famous New England author Nathaniel Hawthorne + his family. Her travels also gave the aspiring scientist the opportunity to spend time with renowned science writer Mary Somerville + astronomer Caroline Herschel.
Julia Ward Howe
Public domain