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.