Maria Mitchell
ASTRONOMER (1818 - 1889)
Maria Mitchell was the first professional
woman astronomer in the United States. In
1847 she established the orbit of a new
comet, which gained her immediate
recognition in the field of science. She was
the first woman elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also
a pioneer in the photography of sunspots and
was the first to discover that they were
whirling vertical cavities as opposed to clouds.
Mitchell co-founded the Association for the
Advancement of Woman and served as the
group's president in 1875.
Marie Tharp
GEOLOGIST & OCEANOGRAPHER
(1920 - 2006)
Marie Tharp helped create the first map of the
ocean floor, proving it was not just flat
surfaces. Her father was a soil surveyor and
Tharp believed she wouldn't be able to do this
as a woman, leading to her doing her degree
in Music and English. However, after
graduating, she was given an opportunity to
be part of an accelerated geology program in
Michigan during WW2 when most men were
away fighting. She completed a masters
degree in Geology as well as BA in
mathematics. She later became part of a
research project to map the ocean floor and
was the primary contributor to its success,
despite the fact that women were not allowed
on boats at this time. Her work was not
always credited, but in 1996 she received an
Outstanding Achievement Award from the
Society of Women Geographers.
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