<p><strong>In this collection, you will find links to resources about the astronomer Annie Jump Cannon. Annie Jump Cannon</strong> (December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of star classification. Cannon worked at the Harvard College Observatory from 1896-1940. She attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she studied physics and astronomy. She became a computer at the Harvard College Observatory. She developed a star classification system that is still used today. According to her classification system, stars can be either O, B, A, F, G, K or M, with O being the hottest stars and M being the coolest. In 1911 she was named Curator of Astronomical Photographs at at the Harvard College Observatory. During her career, she had also discovered 300 variable stars, five new stars, and one spectroscopic binary. She was the first female recipient of an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.<br><br><br></p> <p>These online resources include biographies, videos, images, research, and articles. These resources can be used as an introduction into the life of Cannon and her work. We hope that these materials will paint a portrait of a woman who was instrumental to the field of astronomy. <br><br></p> <p></p> <p>Keywords:  Harvard Computers, astronomy, female astronomers, history of science, women in STEM, Project PHaEDRA, John G. Wolbach Library, Center for Astrophysics<br><br><br></p> <p></p>

<p>Humans' view of the universe has changed as our observational tools have changed.  Noticing that groups of stars travel in constellations, some stars appear only during certain seasons, and the Pole Star always points North in the northern hemisphere was possible with the naked eye. Through gradually improving telescopes and lenses, observers made drawings of what they saw until photography through telescopes made it possible to collect light over a long period and thus see stars invisible to the naked eye. Ever greater magnification and new instruments let scientists see that not all objects in the sky were stars - some were clouds of gas and "smeared out" objects which turned out to be other galaxies. Today we collect unprecedented imagery from spacecraft and earth-based telescopes in incredible resolution and varying wavelengths, allowing us an ever-better understanding of the universe around us.</p> <p></p> <p>These resources can be used to better understand the history of astronomy, as well as the different ways in which people have used art and science to make observations of the sky. </p> <p></p> <p>keywords: astronomy, astrophysics, Harvard Computers, women in STEM, art, technology, Project PHaEDRA, John G. Wolbach Library, Center for Astrophysics<br><br></p>

<p>Cecilia Payne-Gapsochkin who worked with spectroscopic slides from the Plate Stacks to study the chemical make-up of giant stars, thus discovering that they are made of mainly Hydrogen/Helium and not, as Henry Norris Russell, then the acknowledged "expert" thought, made of the same materials as Earth. Her submitted thesis became the very first in Astronomy at Harvard and, since the then-director of the Physics Department, Theodore Lyman, would not accept such a work from a woman, the Department of Astronomy at Harvard came into being. Despite Norris's original lack of acceptance of Cecilia's findings, the Director of the Yerkes Observatory, Otto Struve, declared the thesis to be "the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy."</p> <p><br><br>These online resources include biographies, videos, images, research, and articles. These resources can be used as an introduction into the life of Payne-Gaposchkin and her work. You can even find her entire thesis in these collections. <br><br></p> <p><br><br>keywords: Harvard Computers, astronomy, female astronomers, history of science, women in STEM, Project PHaEDRA, John G. Wolbach Library, Center for Astrophysics<br><br></p>