Between 1890 and 1895, five women “computers” were hired to work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, one of the world’s leading observatories at the time. Caroline Herschel notwithstanding, these women were the very first in Britain to be paid for astronomical observation. They were hired as supernumerary computers – normally a temporary position reserved for young schoolboys. Instead of adhering to the usual strict regimen of astronomical calculations, the women at Greenwich functioned much more as astronomers. They observed with telescopes, engaged in original research, and even published their findings. This paper examines how exactly this occurred at a time when women remained excluded from professional observation elsewhere. It engages original archival research in combination with the Greenwich published literature to shed light on a little-known story that reveals how women in Britain first came to be paid as professional astronomers.
...More
Article
Mcaleer, John;
(2013)
“Stargazers at the World's End”: Telescopes, Observatories and “Views” of Empire in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB001320131/)
Article
Spiegel, Richard J.;
(2015)
John Flamsteed and the Turn of the Screw: Mechanical Uncertainty, the Skilful Astronomer and the Burden of Seeing Correctly at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich
(/isis/citation/CBB001202244/)
Book
Kathryn D. Sullivan;
(2019)
Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention
(/isis/citation/CBB905524834/)
Article
Lee T. Macdonald;
(2020)
Proposals to Move the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1836–1944
(/isis/citation/CBB105924215/)
Thesis
Kwan, Alistair Marcus;
(2010)
Architectures of Astronomical Observation: From Sternwarte Kassel (circa 1560) to the Radcliffe Observatory (1772)
(/isis/citation/CBB001561038/)
Chapter
Paolo Brenni;
(2017)
Big Is Beautiful: A Few Considerations About the Making of the Large 19th Century Refractors
(/isis/citation/CBB146634870/)
Article
Hoskin, Michael;
(2011)
William Herschel and Herschelian Reflectors
(/isis/citation/CBB001023542/)
Article
Smith, Robert W.;
(2008)
Beyond the Galaxy: The Development of Extragalactic Astronomy, 1885--1965, Part 1
(/isis/citation/CBB000930121/)
Book
Gillespie, Richard;
(2011)
The Great Melbourne Telescope
(/isis/citation/CBB001250823/)
Article
Edward J. Gillin;
(2020)
Tremoring Transits: Railways, the Royal Observatory and the Capitalist Challenge to Victorian Astronomical Science
(/isis/citation/CBB004881409/)
Article
McAleer, John;
(2013)
“Stargazers at the World's End”: Telescopes, Observatories and “Views” of Empire in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB001213505/)
Article
Raposo, Pedro;
(2008)
Charming Tools of a Demanding Trade: The Heritage of Nineteenth-Century Astrometry at the Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon
(/isis/citation/CBB001021168/)
Book
Brandl, Bernhard R.;
Stuik, Remko;
Katgert-Merkelijn, J. K.;
(2010)
400 Years of Astronomical Telescopes: A Review of History, Science and Technology
(/isis/citation/CBB001232417/)
Book
Ileana Chinnici;
(2017)
Merz Telescopes: A Global Heritage Worth Preserving
(/isis/citation/CBB505904975/)
Chapter
Knobloch, Eberhard;
(2003)
“Es wäre mir unmöglich nur ein halbes Jahr so zu leben wie er”: Encke, Humboldt und was wir schon immer über die neue Berliner Sternwarte wissen wollten
(/isis/citation/CBB000800263/)
Chapter
A Altamore;
Francesco Poppi;
Sabino Maffeo;
(2017)
Merz Telescopes in Rome
(/isis/citation/CBB542953905/)
Book
Zuidervaart, Huib J.;
(2007)
Telescopes from Leiden Observatory and Other Collections, 1656--1859: A Descriptive Catalogue
(/isis/citation/CBB001021804/)
Book
Gußmann, Ernst-August;
Scholz, Gerhard;
Dick, Wolfgang R.;
(2000)
Der Große Refraktor auf dem Potsdamer Telegrafenberg. Vorträge zu seinem 100 jährigen Bestehen
(/isis/citation/CBB000102401/)
Book
Borheck, Georg Heinrich;
Beuermann, Klaus;
(2005)
Grundsätze über die Anlage neuer Sternwarten unter Beziehung auf die Sternwarte der Universität Göttingen
(/isis/citation/CBB001232285/)
Chapter
DeVorkin, David;
(2006)
Serving the Muse in Shapley's Wake
(/isis/citation/CBB001000106/)
Be the first to comment!