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Women at the Harvard College Observatory

Black and white image of a group of women working at tables. Window light spills into the room. A woman with a steady gaze is standing left of center.
Williamina Fleming shown standing right of center. Harvard University Archives
 

Harvard College Observatory began hiring women assistants as early as 1875, though women like Eliza Quincy volunteered their time even before that date. Some of the earliest women to officially work at the observatory include Rebecca Titsworth Rogers, Rhoda G. Saunders and Anna Winlock, who all assisted William A. Rogers in his project regarding time zones.

It wasn't until 1881 that the fourth Harvard Observatory director, Edward Charles Pickering, with support from his wife Lizzie Sparks Pickering, began hiring Women Astronomical Computers specifically to study and care for the observatory's growing glass plate photograph collection. The first Astronomical Computers to work with the glass plates were Anna Winlock, Selina Bond, Nettie A. Farrar, and Williamina Fleming. Between 1881-1950s, these women cataloged stars for the Henry Draper Catalogue (funded by Anna Palmer Draper, in honor of her late husband Dr. Henry Draper), discovered variable stars, studied stellar spectra and counted galaxies, to name a few of their duties. Funding for the production and study of the glass plates came from three primary donors: Anna Palmer Draper, Uriah Atherton Boyden, and Catherine Wolfe Bruce. Several of the Astronomical Computers became famous astronomers in their day, particularly Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Antonia Maury, Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. Many of these women lived near the Observatory and sometimes shared spaces. See this interactive map for where many of the people lived.

In 1899, Mrs. Fleming received the official title of Curator of Astronomical Photographs, the first such Corporation appointment of a woman at Harvard. Upon her death, Annie Jump Cannon performed the roll of Curator, but Harvard’s President Abbott Lawrence Lowell prevented her from receiving the same status. She was appointed to the position in 1911 by Director Pickering, and in 1938, two years before her death, she received an official Corporation appointment and appeared in the Harvard Catalogue. It wasn’t until 1969 that the position was again officially filled by Dr. Martha Hazen. Alison Doane joined the Harvard College Observatory in July 1983 as an Assistant to Martha Hazen. Upon Dr. Hazen's retirement in 2001, Doane became Curator.

For our Recomendations to Researchers, Journalists, and other Storytellers Writing About the Women Astronomical Computers, see page.

Alphabetical List of Women Astronomical Computers

The Women Astronomical Computers listed below are shown in alphabetical order by their given name. The surname(s) listed are those that each woman used during her time at Harvard and/or professional astronomy career. Some of the women used both their maiden and married name at different points in their career; where two surnames are listed, the maiden name is listed first and the married name second. Additional surnames that the women did not use professionally are included in parentheses, where known. This list is being extended and information is being updated as we learn more about each of these important people. Bolded names have more detailed biographical information.

This list builds upon the research of numerous scholars. Former curator of the Plate Stacks, Lindsay Smith-Zrull, published an article in 2021, titled “Women in Glass: Women at the Harvard Observatory during the Era of Astronomical Glass Plate Photography, 1875-1975”, which includes a list of more than 250 women who worked at the Harvard College Observatory beyond just the Plate Stacks.