Mabel Abbie Gill (September 29, 1873 - May 19, 1961) worked as one of the Women Astronomical Computers at the Harvard College Observatory from 1892 until 1927.
While at the Observatory, Gill was one of the assistants to Annie Jump Cannon’s work on the Henry Draper Catalogue. Her work included proofreading the remarks and text of the Catalogue, as well as ascertaining or confirming stellar positions and magnitudes and classifying stars.1 In the classification work, specifically for the Southern Sky-section of the Catalogue and variable stars, involved examining plates from Observatories in the southern hemisphere. Gill worked with her sister, Edith Gill, as well as Williamina Fleming, Louisa Wells, Sarah Breslin, and Evelyn Leland, among many others.2
Described by Cecilia Payne-Gaposhkin in her memoir, Mabel and her sister Edith both would “...hover in the background” and were “quiet, self-effacing, always busy.”3 They both feature in some of the most famous photographs taken of the Women Astronomical Computers; ones taken of the group in 1911 and 1925, respectively.
Mabel Abbie Gill was born in 1873, in Cambridge,4 to John and Harriet F Gill (neé Miner). John Gill worked as a Jeweler and Watchmaker.5 Mabel would be the second of four children. She began working at the Harvard College Observatory in 1892 at the age of about 19. The Gill family resided in Cambridge until at least 1900, when they moved to Belmont.6 Mabel Gill resided in Belmont for the rest of her life, living with family until she passed away May 19th, 1961. She is buried in the Gill family plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery.7
Written by Samantha Notick, May 2023
Mabel Gill utilized two terms to describe her work at the Observatory. In a city directory in 1893, she used “Asst.” (Assistant) at “Observatory”. On the 1910 and 1920 Federal Censuses, and city directories in 1925 and 1927, she used “Computer” at “Observatory”.
For questions on any particular Women Astronomical Computer’s titles please consult their bio page. If no terminology information is listed, feel free to email us!
Citations:
1-Dava Sobel, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took Measure of the Stars (New York: Viking, 2016), 91, 171↩2-Solon I. Bailey, The History and Work of Harvard Observatory, 1839-1927. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1931), 181. ; Sobel, 91.↩
3-Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections, ed. Katherine Haramundanis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 141.↩
4-Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Records, 1840-1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Accessed via Ancestry.com. May 2023.↩
5-Ibid. ; 1900 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2022.↩
6-1900 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. ↩
7-“MABEL F. GILL,” The Life of Mabel F Gill, remembermyjourney, WebCemeteries. Accessed May 2023↩
