POPULAR ASTRONOMY 



63 



The Nantucket Maria Mitchell As- 

 sociation. 



A memorial observatory has lately 

 been built at Nantucket, Mass., to 

 commemorate America's first and best 

 known woman astronomer, Maria 

 Mitchell, who was born on the island 

 of Nantucket in the year 1818, the 

 daughter of an astronomer, William 

 Mitchell. The building- is a handsome 

 one of brick, with copper dome, and 

 houses a five inch instrument and a 

 working library. It was erected, and 

 is cared for by The Nantucket Maria 

 Mitchell Association. Miss Mitchell, 

 as a girl, learned astronomy from her 

 father, and the two together spent 

 many years computing for the U. S. 

 Nautical Almanac. On the evening of 

 October 1, 1847, she discovered a tele- 

 scopic comet, for which she later re- 

 ceived a gold medal from the King of 

 Denmark. In 1865 she was called to 

 Vassar college, as professor of astron- 

 omy and director of the observatory, 

 where she remained for twenty-three 

 years. In 1888, at the age of seventy, 

 she resigned after a very successful 

 career at Vassar, and was made Pro- 

 fessor Emeritus. She removed to Lynn, 

 Mass., where her family then resided, 

 and where in 1889 she died. The As- 

 sociation has also bought for preserva- 

 tion the birthplace of Maria Mitchell 

 in Nantucket, and is now engaged m 

 raising an endowment of some $25,000 

 for a research fellowship, so that 

 the observatory may be put to a 

 practical use. It may be of interest 

 to note that Mr. Mitchell father of 

 Maria Mitchell, in 1835 was one of 

 the first observers of Halley s comet 

 on its periodic return, and that his 

 place of observation was thereby 

 raised to the rank of an observatory. 

 During certain hours in her Li- 

 brary work, Miss Mitchell had con- 

 siderable leisure for study in which 

 she was indefatigable. Her salary 

 was supplemented by mathematical 

 calculations for the United States 

 Nautical Almanac, a work, in which 

 her father and she was engaged for 

 many years. 



On December 17, 1831, Frederick 

 VI, King of Denmark, offered a 



gold medal to the first discoverer of 

 a "telescopic comet." On the even- 

 ning of October I, 1847, engaged in her 

 usual astronomical observations Miss 

 Mitchell told her father she thought 

 she had discovered a comet, but advis- 

 ed him to say nothing of it until they 

 had observed it long enough to be tol- 

 erably certain. Mr. Mitchell, however, 

 immediately wrote to Professor Bond, 

 then Director of Cambridge Observa- 

 tory, announcing the discovery. The 

 same comet was noted by astronomers 

 at Rome, in England and at Hamburg, 

 but the priority of Miss Mitchell's dis- 

 covery was ' admitted throughout 

 Europe and in 1849 she received the 

 medal. 



In 1848 Miss Mitchell was elected 

 to membership in the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 

 first woman admitted to its rolls. 

 Later she was elected to the Philo- 

 sophical Society of Philadelphia, and 

 among the papers sent to the Memor- 

 ial by her family are honorary degrees 

 conferred by several colleges. In 1857 

 she gave up her position as Librarian 

 of the Nantucket Atheneum and made 

 her first trip to Europe, where she was 

 cordially received by astronomers, 

 who not only opened" their observa- 

 tories to her, but welcomed her into 

 their family life. 



In 1861, a few months after the 

 death of her mother. Miss Mitchell 



ASTRONOMICAL OT.SF.RVATORY 

 Built 1908 



