Constance D. Boyd (1907-1976) worked at the Harvard Observatory from around 1928 until 1943.

While at Harvard, Boyd studied the magnitudes of nebulae, proper motions of stars, and took measurements on plates. She also determined the magnitudes of several stars in the work that went into a publication with Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin. Prior to her time at Harvard, in 1914, a glass plate negative image was taken with the 16-inch Metcalf telescope.Pluto, ‘Planet X’ at the time, went unrecognized on that plate. 18 years later in 1932, with astronomical ephemeris from a Dr. Bower of California, Boyd inspected and measured the plate, and Miss Arville Walker identified an object right near the limits of visibility of the plate MC6858 as Planet X/Pluto.¹

During World War II, Boyd became a member of the fire control group of the Radiation Laboratory at MIT. She stayed on at MIT, and beginning in 1950 she held several key positions at MIT Press. These included executive editor, assistant to the director, and editor-in chief. Even after reaching retirement age in 1970, she stayed on and worked part time as senior editor until June of 1975.²

Boyd was born in Boston to Eva and Herbert Boyd. Herbert worked as a physician. Boyd had one older brother, Philip.³ She graduated from the Girls Latin School, and went on to get her Bachelors (1928) and Masters (1936) at Radcliffe. She traveled widely, and was a member of several Boston organizations including the Friends of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Athenaeum Society, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She was also a member of the American Astronomical Society.⁴ Constance D. Boyd passed away July 14, 1976 and is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass.⁵

Written by Samantha Notick, 2022

Selected Publications:

“The Peculiar Variability of XY Persei” by Constance D. Boyd, published in Harvard College Observatory Bulletin No. 904, pp.18-22. September 1936 https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1936BHarO.904...18B/abstract 

“Eight New Proper Motions” by Constance D. Boyd, published in Astrophysical Journal, vol. 104, p.357. January 1929 https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1929BHarO.863....3B/abstract 

“Proper Motions of Forty Three Cluster Type Variables” by Constance D. Boyd and Pricilla F. Bok. published in Harvard College Observatory Bulletin No. 893, pp.1-6. October 1933. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1933BHarO.893....1B/abstract 

“The Light-Curves of R Aquarii.” by Constance D. Boyd and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. Published in Astrophysical Journal, vol. 104, p.357 November 1946. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1946ApJ...104..357P/abstract 

Citations:

^{1“1914 PHOTO OF PLUTO IS FOUND AT HARVARD” New York Times. April 16, 1932 ↩
2“Constance Boyd, At 70; Was MIT Press Editor.” Boston Globe (Boston, MA), July 21, 1976.↩
3U.S. Census Bureau. Federal Census, 1940. Accessed via Ancestry.com. June 2022↩
4 “Constance Boyd, At 70; Was MIT Press Editor,” Boston Globe (Boston, MA), July 21, 1976.↩
5 “Constance D. Boyd” Find A Grave. Find A Grave, accessed 30 June 2022↩}