Maria Mitchell - Stellar Scientist

Mary Draper lanney

Maria Mitche ll as a young astronomer on Nant llcket. Taken from a portrait by Hermione Dassel, 185 1. Courtesy Vassar College Library. 17

The universe of local history that Spritsail encom­ and gone to sea on a whaling ship without his passes includes Nantucket Island, its history, its lore parents' knowledge or permission. She was a free and its people. Maria Mitchell was a di stinguished spirit and all 01 her Iile railed against rules and inh abitant of the island . Born in 1818, she became regulati ons that hemmed her in. one of the grea t scientists of the 19th century, the Quaker Iile dominated Nantucket in the 19th cen· first woman astronomer in America, a leading edu­ tury . The religion censured color and frivolity in any cator of women and a firm advocate of women's fo rm and Maria rebelled against these strictures of rights. her faith. The drabness 01 ber religion conflicted She was born into a Quaker family, one of nine with what she saw around her. In nature she ob­ children. From a very early age, she displayed an served so much tbat was lull 01 color and Iile. She unusual aptitude for mathematics, a qua lity that was obstinate and hated her early scbooling lor the was quickly observed by her lather, William. He was sa me kind of reason. At the age of four, she was among the earliest pioneers of astronomical observa­ forced to copy moralistic lessons from Th e Ameri­ tion in the country and his ability to record observa· can Spelling Book. Painfull y and defiantly, she ti ons of the stars for the purpose of rating the copied word s that she didn't understand and there­ chronometers of Nantucket's whaling ships was fore didn't want to know. valued indeed. He was one of the town's respected Fortunately, her lather decided to open a school lor citizens; whaJing captains depended on his observa­ chiJdren in Nantucket. Unlike the trad itional rote tions and skill lor it was knowledge 01 the heavens approac h to sc hooling typical 01 his day, William that often steered them home. the Teacher, as he carne to be called, learned with By choice, from a very early age, Maria Mitchell was his pupils. With his young charges, including Maria, at her father 'S side on the walk on top of their he walked the moors and shores 01 Nantucket look· house. On every clear evening, they observed a1l ing for birds, shells, plants. "Thee must wonder. night long, recording observations, making calcula­ Thee must watch closely, then will tbee see and tions, noting the relative positions of stars. It was know for thyself,"Z he taught. This new approach exact, unremitting hard labor, but even as a child to learning which encouraged Maria to participate Maria Mitchell never flinched from the demands 01 actively in the quest lor knowledge released her vast the work. It fascinated her to observe the stars in intellectual energies. Under her fathers tutelage, she the heavens, and early in life she seemed to sense collected small lossils and called them "autographs the beauty and order in the universe. 01 time."3 By the age 01 ten, sbe had read all 01 the long volumes of Rollins' Ancient History, not be­ At the same time that she was a remarkably di s­ cause she had to but because her curiosity about the ciplined young girl, she also possessed a vivid imagi· past had been aroused by her lather's method 01 nation and unusual creative energies. She wandered teaching. the island at a young age observing nature and asking such questions as II Why is the grass green? At the age 01 16 she opened her own school lor girls Why is the sky blue! Why are the moon and the in Nantucket. She had become assistant to the head· SlUl the same size in the sky?" I She envied her older mas ter of another school on the island. Restless brother who had escaped tbe confines 01 tbe island under his rules and lockstep method ol leaming, she 18

Maria with her falher, Will i:ml, shortl y before his death in 1869. Pholo by Slec Brothers, Pough­ kee psie. Courtesy Vassar Coll ege Library. 19

decided that she could learn more and teach others spite the duties of the job, she would have access if she could create a school where students were to books to further her never-ending search for invited to participate in the learning process. She knowledge. The library was open only afternoons placed an ad in the local paper in Nantucket: and Saturdays. Hurrying through her chores at home, she made time in the mornings at the UMaria Mitchell proposes to open a school for girls Atheneum to do her own reading. She taught herself on the hrst of next month at the Franklin School French and German so tbat she could read work s House. In struction will be give n in Reading, Spell­ of scientists in those languages. She read and ing, Geography, Grammar, History, Natural Philos­ puzzled over Bridge's Conic Sections, Hutton's ophy, Arithmeti c, Geometry and Algebra. Mathematics, Bowditch's Practical Navigator and Terms $3 per quarter. None admitted under six Airy's work on Gravitation. She was always search­ yea rs of age ."4 ing for truth about the great laws of the universe She was surprised at her own audacity and con­ which were so poorly known in the mid-19th vinced that no pupils woul d appear on opening day. century. They did though, including three Portuguese chil­ In 1847 when Maria Mitchell was 29, an event oc­ dren who had been turned down by the free school curred that changed her life: she discovered a comet. in town. Maria Mitche ll welcomed them all and for During her years of schooling and he r work at the the next two years exposed her students to her kind Atheneum, Maria continued her habit of observa­ of learning. tions whenever the night sky was clear, using first II Learn to observe," she told her pupils. "The eye the walk on top of he r house and later a similar learn s to sec_ Watch after sunset, watch before sun­ perch on tOp of the Pacific Bank. The family had rise ."~ Direct observacion was the foundation for moved when her father had been appointed manager learning, she believed. She took her students on of the bank because, in those early days of banking, early morning and evening walks to observe nature. people felt more comfortable if the bank's official They went out after sunset to watch the stars lived in the same building where their money was. appear. Their curiosity aroused, her students learned One particular night, when her father was entena.in­ the djsciplines required to understand what they had ing friends downstairs, Maria observed a strange observed. body in the sky. She ran quickly for her father who Maria Mitchell's qualities of mind had not gone un­ confirmed her observation. Further observations over noticed by the town leaders of Nantucket. Although successive nights convinced the father/daughter some were critical of her non-traditional approaches team that a significant djscovery had been made. to schooling, none could doubt her inte llectual appetite and discipline. At the age of 18, she was The King of Denmark, interested in science, had offe red a se ries of medals for original work. In 1847 offered the job of librarian at the Atheneum, the he offered a gold medal to the first person who town's library and center of intellectual activity. Her discovered a comet through a telescope. Through his salary was to be sixty dollars the first year, seventy­ five the next and one hundred dollars thereafter. connec tions at Harvard Unive rs ity, Will'iam Mitchell forwarded his daughter'S name as con­ Maria accepted eagerly because she knew that de- tender for the medal. Although the comet had also 20

been observed by astronomers in England and Italy, Reading Society for example, men and women read it was detennined that the medal belonged to Maria. original stories and poems and discussed contem­ The medal arrived on the island almost a year after porary literary works. "1 think there is no tOwn in her discovery. This was the first time that one of New England where the whole body of women is the medals had heen awarded to an American and so well educated"6 wrote one visiting lecturer. That the first instance in whicb it had been won by a view was echoed by Lucy Stone and other activists woman anywhere. for women's rights who lectured on the island. Word of the "lady astronomerll spread through the Her mind bursting with ideas and questions stimu­ small but growing scientific world and the extra­ lated by these visitors, Maria yearned to travel to ordinary talents of Maria Mitchell began to be recog­ Europe but the idea of a woman traveling alone was nized. Over the violent protest of the distinguished out of the question. As luck would have it , a Harvard botanist, Asa Gray, Maria Mitchell was wealthy Chicago banker, H.K. Swift, wanted his elected to the newly founded American Association daughter to make the grand tour of Europe and to for the Advancement of Science, the first woman see parts of the United States. He had heard of ever admitted. Louis Agassiz, the great naturalist Maria Mitchell and decided that she would make whose work and teachings inspired tbe founding of a suitable chaperone for his daughter. For Maria, it the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, was a dream come true. became a friend of Maria Mitchell's. A native of She traveled first to Chicago to pick up her charge. Switzerland, he had come to Harvard in 1850. He They went west to the MissiSSippi and down the proposed her name to the American Academy of river to New Orleans, then came east by way of Arts and Sciences, and again she was the first Savannah and Charleston to sail for Europe. It was woman member. 1857 and the issue of slavery and the future of the Maria's recognition by the leading scientific profes­ union was in the air. Maria heard southerners extol sional associations strengthened her confidence in the virtues of slavery and she obse rved the slave her research. She was also exposed to the great markets in the big southern cities. They made her currentS of scientific and literary thought that were physically ill as the idea of one human being own­ then sweeping tbe United States. Thirty miles out ing another was abhorrent to her. She wrote her to sea, Nantucket might have been an intellectual father: "1 think that the Union cannot la st." 7 backwater; instead it became an extraordinary seat Her travels to England, France and Italy stretched of learning and intellectual ferment. To the her mind and added to her knowledge. She had Atheneum came the great scholars, writers, scien­ letters of introduction to leading European astrono­ tists and philosophers of the day. Ralph Waldo mers &om Edward Everett, president of Harvard, Emerson, Herman Melville, James Audubon were Benjamin Silliman of Yale and Joseph Henry, sec­ featured lecturers. Henry Thoreau and Louis Agassiz retary of the Smithsonian. Her accomplishments carne often to the island. It would seem that every opened doors for her. Funhermore, she carried wi th conceivable subj ect was addressed to the many her the first photograph of a star ever taken, and learned societies that flourished on the island. In the she discussed the implications of this ground- Nantucket Philosophical Society and the Social 2 1

breaking technological development on tbe future was the only American woman at this time to have of astronomy with eminent European scientists and seU-supporting scientific employment and inter­ astronomers. national recognition. The Women of America, an association in Boston, gave her a new and powerful She visited the observatories at Liverpool, Green· telescope. wich, Cambridge and Glasgow. Everywhere she was recogni zed. When she would modestly introduce In 1862 Maria was invited to occupy the Chair of herself to England's foremost scientists and astrono­ Astronomy at Vassar, the first endowed college for mers by saying that she had brought a letter of intro­ women in the country. She was promised an observ­ duction from a friend in America, they would invari· atory and a telescope. She would be the rust woman ably say: "It is qujte unnecessary. I know you with­ on the faculty of a new institution that accepted the OUt."M She did not confine her time to just people premise that women should have the same kind of of science. To her father she wrote from London: educational opportunities as men. "There are four great men whose haunts I mean to It was a long tUne before she was able to join seek out, and on whose footprints I mean to stand Vassar's first faculty. The Civil War delayed tbe - Newton, Shakespeare, Milton and Johnson."? college's opening and gave its critics ample time to After Miss Swift was called home by her father, thunder against higher education for women. lI you Maria went on to Rome with the Nathaniel Haw­ calIDot feed a woman's brain without starving her thorne faru.ily; there she visited the Vatican Observ­ body, II declared a worthy doctor of the time. "Open atory. No woman had ever been al10wed there, but the door of your colleges to women," he roared, she asked permission and ultimately it was granted. /land you will accomplish the ruin of the common­ The irony of being on the site where the Vatican wealth."11 Some trustees believed in the college's telescope has clockwork made to compensate for the purpose of educating women but could not conceive motion of the earth on its axis, the very motion for of such education being carried out by women pro­ asserting whose existence Galileo had suffered, did fessors . Wasting little time over this furor, Maria not escape her. She wrote, "I know of no sadder continued her research and preparation of scientific picture in all the pages of religious history more papers. On occasion, she went to Cambridge with pitiable than that of the Holy Church trembling her father and there she visited often with Louis before Galileo, denouncing the truths which he Agassiz. taught because they were in conflict with what they Unlike most of his colleagues, Louis Agassiz was considered God's only book, unknowing that tbe a strong proponent of women in science. He encour­ Book of Nature is also the Book of God." IO aged their application to the Penikese Island School. Wben Maria Mitchell returned home, she found His views on teaching coincided with those of Maria new resources and invitations to work with other MitchelL Rejecting tbe traditional pattern of lectur­ scientists. She spent a summer in Maine with the ing professor and passive student, they both insisted Coast Survey, learning to use and apply new in­ upon involving students in the learning process. struments. She was appointed field researcher and In 1865, after the end of the Civil War, she was computer for the Nautical Almanac. On a contin­ formally invited to join the Vassar faculty. Her uing basis, she computed the position of Venus. She 21

Astronomy Class with Maria Mitchell in from of Observatory at Vassar, 1878. Student kneeling is Elizabeth Cady Stanton's daughter, Harriet Stanton Blatch, Va ssar, 1878. Photogra pher unknown. Courtesy Vassar College Library. 23

With class in Vassar College Observatory, 1885. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Vassar College Library. 24

salary was to be $800 a year with board for berself and dawn and if a meteor shower or comet crossed and ber father. The observatory and telescope that her field of vision, she was off to the dormitory to she was promised were in place. It was testimony wake the students, no matter what the hour. The to Vassar's commitment to the ro le of science in corridor teachers protested to no avail. the educa tion of women, and a joyous gift to the She obj ected to grades, insisting that there was no woman wbo would lead them. accurate measurement of the intellect. She abhorred Maria differed hom most of tbe Vassar fa culty. She compulsory classroom attendance on the theory that scorned tbe traditional teacher·pupil relationship and if the class were interesting, the student would involved her students in tbe process of learning hom attend. Perhaps most of all she detested the petty the very start . The observatory was a teaching lab­ discussions and arguments that permea ted faculty oratory. To the consternation of their parents and meetings. They seemed endlessly boring and wi th· some teachers, the young women of the 1860s, 70s out meaning to her. She said of one particularly and 80s stayed up night after nigbt witb their &Ustrating session: IIOur faculty meetings always try astronomy teacher, observing the stars and making me in this respect - we do things that other col­ notations of their courses and movement. They de­ leges bave done before. If the Eartb had waited for veloped a collegialiry and pride in their work which a precedent, it would never have turned on its their teacher shared: II We are women studying axis." I S together/"l she noted proudly in her diary. She Maria never really made peace with the majority of trained them in mathematics saying that: /I Astron­ trustees and the presidents of the co llege during her omy is not stargazing. The entrance to astronomy tenure. By and large, they were of a traditional, con­ is through mathematics."13 Some of her students servative nature and objected both to her be liefs excelled and went on in the field, but aU of them about the role of science in hfe and to her inde­ were encouraged to think critically and creatively, pendent ways. One day the president asked her not to test hypotheses, observe closely, and calculate to sit so near the front windows of the observatory accurately the results of observations. A great when mending her stockings on Sunday. It was the teacher, Maria Mitchell cult.ivated qualities of mind in young Vassar women that they used the rest of Lord's day and no purposeful activity other than their lives. worship should take place. She replied that upon examining her conscience she could not find At Vassar Maria continued her resistance to un­ mending on Sunday a misdemeanor in itself. She questioned authority and strict codes of behavior explained that she sat by the window because it and thought. In the early days of the college there gave her tbe best ligbt. Tbe trustees and president were, in her view, some petty rules and regulations. strongly protested but she remained adamant. Be­ The Studen ts Manual stated: "Students must not cause of her personality and the nature of her work, light the gas in their own rooms or elsewhere at any sbe was a threat to those who believed that the time between the retiring bell and the rising bell teachings of religion held sway over the new truths next moming, except for sickness or other unavoid­ that science was revealing. The argument of able necessity." 14 As was usually the case, Maria creationism versus Darwinism had begun and feel­ was looking through her telescope between dusk ings ran high. 25

Waiting fo r the skies to clear, circa 1877. PhOlO by Va il Brothers, Pough­ keepsie. Courtesy Vassar Coll ege Library.

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Matthew Vassar's vision of a coll ege that offered by her father, Maria grew up in an atmosphere that equal educational opportunities for women was not assumed women were competent and able. Finally, always reflected in the atmosphere on its campus. Louis Agassiz had always championed her right to The few women on the faculty were regarded as a place with other scientists of distinction. second-class citizens. Their names were omitted [n the fall of 1873, a call went out to women every­ from the list of faculty committees. When the pres­ where which read: "We hope to found an association ident of the college asked the faculty for a list of for the Advancement of Women, at the annual gath­ their publications, he neglected to ask the women. ering of which shall be presented the best ideas and Predictably, women were paid less than men. Maria the most advantageous methods of our foremost and another woman on the faculty threatened to re­ thinkers and writers."17 At the first gathering in sign on one occasion unless this inequity was New York were the prominent women of the day, resolved. preachers, teachers, professors, artists, lawyers, In part because of this atmosphere, Maria often editors, authors, practical philanthropists. The seized opportunities to get away from the campus Women's Congress, as this group came to be called, and into the larger world. She was in demand as a differed from the American Equal Rights Association lecturer at other campuses and communities and founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. she accepted requests to speak whenever she could. Anthony some years before to advocate voting rightS She was an effective, moving speaker, able to talk for women. The new group was more concerned about her work in ways that lay people could under­ with the advancement of women through education. stand. She opened up the wonders and beauties of From that would flow access to the ballot, it was the large and largely unknown universe, and she believed. Banded together, these were the profes· talked about the poetry of science without leading sional women of the day. Their goal was to support her audiences into complexities which were beyond and encourage women to enter public life, be it as them. These widening contacts in academ.ic and in­ a teacher, doctor, lawyer, scientist, artist, wherever tellectual circles convinced her to work actively for their talents would lead them. Maria was active in change in society's attitude toward women. She this association from the beginning and became its railed against the belief that women should not and president in its fourth year. Throughout its history, could not work in science. She came to believe that she helped to formulate its agenda and until the end the advancement of women in society in general of her life she spoke up for women everywhere. was a goal she wished to pursue. "I believe in Maria Mitchell stayed at Vassar College until the women even more than I do in astronomY," 16 she year before her death in 1889. Despite her "wars" said. with the college, she recognized and appreciated that Maria came naturally to the cause of women's it was the first institution in the country to open rights. The Quaker religion, for all its drabness, be­ the doors of higher education to women. Near the lieved in the equality of men and women. In Nan­ end of her long tenure, she wrote that, liThe world tucket, a community where one third of the men is better wh.ile Vassar lives . .. The college will con­ were at sea at any time, women naturally assumed tinue with vigor and will live and grow in its long positions of responsibility and authority. Encouraged centuries and continue to bless the world. IS 27

Waiting for sundown. Note open door in revolving roof and telescope visible through upper window. On Christmas Day 1888 Maria Mitchell retired to Lynn, Mass. There she continued to sweep the skies in the little observatory of which she proudly said, "Lick Observatory is the largest in lhe world; mine is the smallest." Photo by W. Marshall Wi.res, Lynn, Mass. Courtesy Vassar College Library. 28

Maria Mitchell possessed a drive to learn about the approve of this living memorial which carries on her universe. She used every available moment in her work. One can almost hear her saying to these life to pursue knowledge. It is hard to think of her students: "Did you leam that ftom a book or did frittering time away. Yet she was aware of the you observe it yourself?fI enormity of her task. She wrote: "The world of learning is so broad and the human soul so limited Mary Draper Janney has spent part of every summer of in its power. We reach forward and strain every her life in Woods Hole . All of her professional life she has nerve, but we seize hold only of a bit of the curtain been concerned with education, and currently she is execu­ tive director of the "I Have a Dream Foundation" of Wash­ that hides the inIinite from us." " She seemed un­ ington, D.C. It is an organization dedicated to helping dis­ aware of her extraordinary talents and spent little advantaged youngsters stay in school and aim for college. time thinking about her accolades and triumphs. She is also chair of the Board of Trustees of Vassar College. She said of herself: "I am a pe rson of ordinary There she became interested in Maria Mitchell, not only as a scientist, but more importan tl y to her, as a teacher capacity but extraordinary pe rsistency."'lO She of young women. seemed to ignore the fame that came to her in many forms. She was the first woman elected to the American Philosophical Society. She received hon­ orary degrees from Rutgers Female College and from Columbia. She was amazed to hear that a crater on the moon had been named afrer her.

She would have liked to know that an association has been named after her. Fouoded 86 years ago with the financial help of Quakers and Vassar alumnae on the island, The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association is a living memorial to the most important woman scientist of the 19th cen­ tury. The organization owns and operates an ob­ servatory, a natural science museum and a science library. Each summer it sponsors weekly lectures by astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge and other in­ stitutions. It sponsors children1s classes in natural science and marine IHe as we II as adul t programs

including wildflower walksl bird walks and nature walks. A resident astronomer directs the observatory on the island all year long. In addition to providing

public educa tionl the observatory is a re search center with summer internships in astronomYI mathematics and physics. Maria Mitchell would 29

Notes Additional Sources Bclserene, Emilia Pisani, Maria Mitchell, 191h Century ASlIono­ I. mer, Pachart Publishing House, The Reprint Series of the Astron­ Wright , Helen. Sweeper in the Sky, Macmillan Co. New York, omy Quarterly. 1949, p. 8. &lscrenc, Emilia Pisani, A Remin;$cence of Maria Mitchell, His­ 2. wric Nantucket, Jan. 1987. Ibid . Drake, Thomas, Th e First Half Centur}' of the Nantucket Maria 3. Mit chell Association. Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association. 1968. Ibid . p. 9. Hofflcit , Dorrit, Maria Mit chell. Pioneer Woman Astronomer. Un· 4. published lecture at the meetings of the Ame rican Association of Ibid . p. 32. Physics Teachers at the University of Maryland. June 1984. 5. Karagianis, Maria, The Sky Was Her Limit, Boston Globe Maga· Ibid . p. 34. zinc, Nov. 25, 1984. 6. Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory, The Advanu ment of Women in Science, IbiJ. p. 81. New England Quarterly, Vol. L1 , No. 1 March, 1978. 7. MacLeish, Manha, Maria Mitchell's Dome Parties. Special Collec· Ihid. p. 98. tions, Vassar College. S. Ib;d. p. 110. 9. Ibid . p. 108. 10. Ibid . p. 11 9. II. Ibi4· p. 133. 12. Ibid. p. 157. 13. Ibid . p. 163. 14. Ibid . p. 152. 15. Ibid. p. 171. 16. Ibid. p. 190. 17. Ibid. p. 197. IS. Ibid. p. 23S. 19. Ibid. p. 76. W . Ibid. p. 25.