#  Historical Figures Index 

 



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Harvard University Archives, UAV 630.271 (391). Harvard Library, [olvwork432043](/%20http://id.lib.harvard.edu/via/olvwork432043/catalog)  


 The Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has an extensive history and footprint in the areas of astronomy and astrophysics. For a long time, however, women were not able to work at the HCO. It wasn't until 1881 that the fourth Harvard Observatory director, [Edward Charles Pickering](/edward-charles-pickering), began hiring women computers specifically to study and care for the observatory's growing glass plate photograph collection. Their journeys and efforts toward equality is evidenced by the observations and journals they left behind.

##  Harvard's Women Computers

 Below you will find a list of biographies that we will be expanding over time. You can learn more and see a full list of women [here](/glass-plates/women-computers).

- [Annie Jump Cannon](/annie-jump-cannon)
- [Williamina Fleming](/williamina-fleming)
- [Henrietta Swan Leavitt](/henrietta-swan-leavitt)
- [Antonia Maury](/antonia-maury)
- [Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin](/cecilia-payne-gaposchkin)