WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY 175 



The Polish astronomer, Hevilius, who had an observatory 

 at Dantzig, is noted for having made the most accurate 

 observations that had been known before the adaptation of 

 the telescope to astronomical instruments. He is also noted 

 for his Prodromus Astronomice, a catalogue of 1,888 stars ; 

 for his Selenographia, containing accurate descriptions and 

 drawings of the moon in her different phases and librations, 

 and for his Machina Ccelestis, which contained the results 

 of forty years of observations and labor. Much of his suc- 

 cess and eminence, however, was due to his intelligent and 

 devoted wife, Elizabeth, who, during twenty-seven years, 

 was a zealous collaborator and should share the credit 

 usually given to her husband. It was she who, after his 

 death, edited and published their joint work, the Pro- 

 dromus Astronomice. 



Among the women most distinguished in the eighteenth 

 century for astronomical pursuits was the Marquise du 

 Chatelet, who was likewise famous for her knowledge of 

 mathematics. It was she who accomplished the difficult 

 task of translating Newton's Principia into French. "This 

 translation, ' ' writes Voltaire, * ' which the most learned men 

 of France should have made and which the others should 

 study, was undertaken by a woman and completed to the 

 astonishment and glory of her country. ' ' * 



France was at this time devoted to the doctrines of Des- 

 cartes and to his theory of elementary vortices; and Vol- 

 taire, who had been deeply impressed by the admirable sim- 

 plicity of Newton's theory of universal attraction as a 



Berlinensi; mense Julio A, 1710 mortuus. Ejus vidua, Maria Mag- 

 dalena Winckelmannia, non minore in observando et calculo astrono- 1 

 mico dexteritate pollet, ac in utroque labore maritum, cum viveret, 



fideliter juvit quod laudi ducitur framings ea animo compre- 



hendisse, quss sine ingenii vi studiique assiduitate non comprehen- 

 duntur," Ada Eruditorum, pp. 78, 79, Lipsiae, 1712. 



1 Preface Historique to Principes Mathematiques de la Philosophic 

 Naturelle par feue Madame la Marquise du Chastellet, Tom. I, p. V, 

 Paris, 1759. 



