WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY
Urania, the muse of astronomy, was a woman; and, although most of her
devotees have been men, the number of the gentler sex who have achieved
success in the cultivation of the science of the stars has been much
larger than is usually supposed.
There is reason to believe that woman's interest in astronomy dates back
to early Egyptian and Babylonian times when the star-gazers in the
fertile valley of the Nile and on the broad plains of Chaldea were so
active, and when they made so many important discoveries respecting the
laws and movements of the heavenly bodies. According to Plutarch,
Aganice, the daughter of Sesostris, King of Egypt, tried to predict
future events by the aid of celestial globes and by the study of the
constellations. Her observations, however, were in the interests of
astrology rather than of astronomy, as we now understand the science.
The first woman whose name has come down to us, who deserved to be
regarded as an astronomer, was most probably Aglaonice, the daughter of
Hegetoris of Thessaly. By means of the lunar cycle known as the Saros, a
period discovered by the Chaldean astronomers and embracing a little
more than eighteen years, during which the eclipses of the moon and sun
recur in nearly the same order as during the preceding period, this
Greek woman was able to predict eclipses. The people among whom she
lived regarded her as a sorceress; but she flouted them all, and
declared that she was able to make the sun and moon disappear at will.
The first woman, however, to attain eminence as an astronomer was
undoubtedly Hypatia, that universal genius of the ancient world, who
seemed equally at home in literature, philosophy and mathematics, and
who may justly be regarded as one of the most highly gifted women that
has ever lived. In Alexandria, where she was born and lived, this
accomplished daughter of Theon taught not only philosophy, but also
algebra, geometry and astronomy. One of her pupils, Synesius, who became
Bishop of Ptolemais, informs us that she was the inventor of two
important astronomical instruments: an astrolabe and a planisphere. In
addition to two mathematical works, a _Treatise on the Conics of
Apollonius_ and a _Commentary on the Arithmetic of Diophantus_, which
was in reality a treatise on algebra, she was the author of an
_Astronomical Canon_, which contained tables regarding the movements of
the heavenly bodies. It is generally supposed that this was an original
work; but there are some who think it was but a commentary on the tables
of Ptolemy. In this latter case Hypatia's work may still exist in
connection with that of her father, Theon, on the same subject.[134]
If the works of Hypatia had not been destroyed by the ravages of time,
they would undoubtedly prove that she fully merited all the encomiums
bestowed on her by antiquity for her genius; and they would also prove,
we may well believe, that she deserved to be ranked not only with the
eminent mathematicians upon whose works she commented, but also with
such masters of astronomic science as Ptolemy, Eratosthenes and
Aristarchus.
After the tragic death of Hypatia many centuries elapsed before any
other woman attracted attention for her work in astronomy. Indeed, so
neglected was the study of the heavens between the time of Hypatia and
the Arab prince and astronomer, Albategni, who flourished during the
latter part of the ninth century and the early part of the tenth, that
only eight observations, it is asserted, were recorded during this long
period. The works and observations of Albategni, it may be remarked,
have a particular interest from the fact that they form a connecting
link between those of the Alexandrine astronomers and those of modern
Europe.
Antoine Hamilton, in his _Gaufrey_--a parody on _The Thousand and One
Nights_--tells of a Saracen princess, _Fleur d'Epine_, who, before she
was fifteen years of age, was able not only to speak Latin and Romance,
but who was also "better acquainted than any woman in the world with the
movements of the stars and the moon."
"Et du cours des etoiles et de la lune luisant
Savoit moult plus que fame de chest siecle vivant."
If any woman between the time of Hypatia and Galileo deserved such high
praise for her astronomical knowledge it was certainly Saint Hildegard,
the famous Benedictine abbess of Bingen on the Rhine. She has well been
called "the marvel of the twelfth century," not only on account of her
sanctity, but also on account of her extraordinary attainments in every
branch of knowledge then cultivated.
When treating of the sun, Hildegard tells us that it is in the center of
the firmament and holds in place the stars that gravitate around it, as
the earth attracts the creatures which inhabit it. This view of a
twelfth century nun is indeed remarkable. For, in her time, the earth
was by everyone considered as the center of the firmament, while
universal gravitation--the sublime discovery of Newton--had not as yet
entered into the scientific theories of that epoch.
Hildegard likewise anticipates subsequent discoveries regarding the
alternation of the seasons. "If," she writes, "it is cold in the winter
time on the part of the earth which we inhabit, the other part must be
warm, in order that the temperature of the earth may always be in
equilibrium." That she should have arrived at this conclusion before
navigators had visited the southern hemisphere is truly
astonishing.[135]
"The stars," she continues, "have neither the same brightness nor the
same size. They are kept in their course by a superior body." Here again
is her idea of universal gravitation.
These stars, she further declares, are not immovable, but they traverse
the firmament in its entirety. And to make clearer her conception of the
motion of the stars, she compares this motion to that of the blood in
the veins. To hear one of this early period speaking of blood coursing
through the veins and thus traversing the whole body of man seems to
presage, in a remarkable manner, the beautiful discoveries of Cesalpino
and Harvey regarding the circulation of the blood.
The most celebrated astronomer of the early Renaissance was John Mueller,
of Koenigsburg, better known as Regiomontanus. In his observatory in
Nuremberg he was ably assisted by his wife who exhibited a special
interest in astronomy. At the end of the sixteenth century, Sophia
Brahe, the youngest sister of Tycho Brahe, following in the footsteps of
her illustrious brother, attained great celebrity as an astronomer.
More distinguished for her astronomical work than either of these two
women was Maria Cunitz, a Silesian, who, from her tenderest years,
displayed extraordinary zeal for study and who eventually became
mistress of seven languages, among which were Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
She also cultivated poetry, music and painting; but her favorite studies
were mathematics and astronomy. At the solicitation of her husband, she
undertook the preparation of an abridgment of the _Rudolphine Tables_.
Her work, under the name of _Urania Propitia_, was published after her
death by her husband, and gained for the talented authoress the name of
"The second Hypatia."[136]
Shortly after the completion of _Urania Propitia_, a French woman,
Jeanne Dumee, distinguished herself by writing a work on the theory of
Copernicus entitled _Entretiens sur l'Opinion de Copernic Touchant la
Mobilite de la Terre_. So far as known, this work was never published,
but the original manuscript is still preserved in the National Library
of Paris. The authoress deems it necessary it apologize for writing on a
subject that is usually considered foreign to her sex and to explain why
she was ambitious to discuss questions to which the women of her time
never gave any thought. It was that she might "prove to them that they
are not incapable of study, if they wish to make the effort, because
between the brain of a woman and that of a man there is no
difference."[137]
How often before had not women endeavored to prove the equality of brain
power of the two sexes, and how often since have they bent their efforts
in this direction! And yet the majority of men still remain skeptical
about such equality.
Among the contemporaries of Jeanne Dumee were two other women who gained
more than ordinary distinction by their attainments in astronomy. These
were Mme. de la Sabliere, in France, and Maria Margaret Kirch, of
Germany.
Mme. de la Sabliere evinced from an early age a special aptitude for
science, especially for physics and astronomy. She studied mathematics
under the eminent mathematician, Roberval, and at the age of thirty was
famous. Her home became the resort of learned and eminent men, including
some of the most noted characters of the age. Among these was Sobieski,
King of Poland. But it is as the friend and protectress of La Fontaine
and as the object of Boileau's satire that she is best known.
For a woman to devote herself to the study of science so soon after the
appearance of Moliere's _Les Femmes Savantes_ argued more than ordinary
courage. But for her to become distinguished for her scientific
acquirements was almost tantamount to defying public opinion. The great
majority of men had come to regard learned women in the same light as
those who were so mercilessly derided in the _Precieuses Ridicules_; and
they had, accordingly, no hesitation in treating them as unbearable
pedants. No one could have made less parade of her learning than Mme. de
la Sabliere, or striven more successfully to conceal her admirable
gifts. But this was not sufficient. She was known to have devoted
special study to science, particularly to astronomy, and this was
sufficient to make her the target of the satirists of her time.
By an act that wounded the self-love of Boileau this Venus Urania, as
she has been called, soon found herself the victim of the satirist's
well-directed shafts. The poet does not name her, but refers to her as
"Cette savante
Qu'estime Roberval et que Sauveur frequente----"
this learned woman whom Roberval esteems and whom Sauveur frequents. And
with the view of pricking the object of his spleen in her most sensitive
part, he tells, in his _Satire contre les Femmes_, how she, with
astrolabe in hand, spends her nights in making observations of the
planet Jupiter and how this occupation has had the effect of weakening
her sight and ruining her complexion.[138]
Mme. de la Sabliere does not, however, seem to have been greatly
perturbed by the ungracious effusions of the satirist, for she continued
her cultivation of astronomy as before the poet's ill-natured outburst.
She probably found ample compensation in the writings of La Fontaine,
who addressed her as his muse and proclaimed her as one in whom were
combined manly beauty and feminine grace--_beaute d'homme avec grace de
femme_.
Maria Kirch, born at Panitch, near Leipsic, in 1670, was the wife of a
Berlin astronomer, Gottfried Kirch. After her marriage she, like her
three sisters-in-law, became her husband's pupil in astronomy. In 1702,
as his assistant in observations and calculations, she was fortunate
enough to discover a comet. She was the friend of Leibnitz, and was by
him presented to the court of Prussia. It is a matter of regret to those
of her own sex that this comet was not, as it should have been, named
after its discoverer.
The death of Herr Kirch, which took place in 1710, caused no
interruption in Frau Kirch's astronomical occupations. Among the
evidences of her activity is a work which she wrote in 1713 on the
conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the year following. In our day the
conjunction of planets is for the laity a mere matter of curiosity,
while for professional astronomers it is quite devoid of particular
interest. But it was not so in the time of Maria Kirch, for then
astronomy was so intimately associated with astrology that mankind
attributed to such special positions of the planets a certain occult and
capricious influence on the destiny of the earth and its inhabitants. As
theoretical astronomy progressed, such erroneous notions were
abandoned, because it was then recognized that the conjunction of the
superior planets was not something fortuitous, but something that was
reproduced at fixed periods by the known movements of these bodies.
Writers on the subject made it a point to warn the public that they had
nothing in common with astrologers. Among these was Christopher Thurm,
who published a work on the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 1681.
Similarly, the book of Maria Kirch contains only astronomical
calculations and nothing more--a fact that redounds to the honor of the
author and to the age in which she lived.
The daughters of Maria Kirch, even long after their mother's death,
continued to occupy themselves with astronomy. They calculated for the
Berlin Academy of Sciences its _Almanac_ and _Ephemeris_, which were
among the sources of revenue of this learned body.
During the same period a number of French and Italian astronomers had
female collaborators in their own families. Celsus, the celebrated
professor of Upsala, and a pupil of the son of Gottfried Kirch, had been
accorded a most cordial reception, while passing through Paris on his
way to Bologna, by De L'Isle who had a sister who was devoted to
astronomy. On his arrival in Italy he found that his new master, the
director of the observatory at Bologna, had two sisters, Teresa and
Maddalena, both of great learning, who, like their brother, were engaged
in the study of the heavens and collaborated with him in the preparation
of the _Ephemeris_ of Bologna. This caused Celsus, in a letter to Kirch,
to declare "I begin to believe that it is the destiny of all the
astronomers whom I have had the honor of becoming acquainted with during
my journey to have learned sisters. I have also a sister, although not a
very learned one. To preserve the harmony, we must make an astronomer of
her."[139]
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 Astronomiae_, 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 Coelestis_, which contained the results of forty years of
observations and labor. Much of his success 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 _Prodromus Astronomiae_.
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."[140]
France was at this time devoted to the doctrines of Descartes and to his
theory of elementary vortices; and Voltaire, who had been deeply
impressed by the admirable simplicity of Newton's theory of universal
attraction as a means of explaining the seemingly complex motions of
the heavenly bodies, resolved to make his countrymen acquainted with the
teachings of the great English geometer and, at the same time, dethrone
Descartes in the French Academy. It was, indeed, a huge undertaking;
but, thanks to the ability which Mme. du Chatelet displayed in
translating and elucidating Newton's immortal masterpiece, he lived to
see his dream realized.
How proud Mme. du Chatelet's countrywomen must have been of her! How
they must have rejoiced in her success and acclaimed her as the
intellectual glory of her sex! How they must have pointed to her work as
a triumphant refutation of the age-old belief in woman's incapacity for
mathematics and all abstract science! How they must have been elated to
find one of their number successfully executing a task which would have
taxed the powers of the most eminent mathematicians of France! How they
must have associated her truly notable performance with similar
achievements of Hypatia and Maria Gaetana Agnesi and discerned in it
concrete evidence of the falsity of all those imputations of mental
inferiority which had been fostered by "man's huge egotism and woman's
carefully coddled superstition." How they must have been encouraged by
her achievement and spurred on to emulate her by similar contributions
to the advancement of science!
That is what we think now; but the light and frivolous women who
constituted the leaders of society in Mme. du Chatelet's day, and who
were devoured by envy and jealousy of one who was so much their superior
in intellect were not so minded. Far from sympathizing with her work,
they proved to be her most virulent critics and most pronounced enemies.
Neither Moliere nor Boileau could have heaped more ridicule on the
pedantic women of their time than was meted out to the translator of the
_Principia_ by certain noble dames of provincial chateaux or by
distinguished habituees of prominent Parisian salons.
Thus the petulant _ennuyee_, Mme. de Stael, in a letter to her friend,
Mme. du Deffand, writing of Mme. du Chatelet, who was then her guest at
Sceaux, tells us that "she is now passing in review her principles. This
is a task she performs every year, else they might, perhaps, make their
escape and run to such a distance that she would never be able to
recover any of them. I verily believe that they are in durance vile
while in her possession, as they were certainly not born with her. She
does well to keep a strict watch over them."[141]
And, in her turn, Mme. du Deffand, who was wont to pose as the intimate
friend of Mme. du Chatelet, did not hesitate to write and circulate a
pen portrait of this friend--and that after the unhappy woman was in her
grave--which for bitter reviling and brutal villification has probably
never been equalled. A witty Frenchman observed of this portrait that it
reminded him of an observation once made by a medical acquaintance of
his concerning one of his patients: "'My friend fell ill; I attended
him. He died; I dissected him.'"[142]
Among other women astronomers of the eighteenth century who deserve
mention are Mme. du Pierry, the Duchesse Louise of Saxe-Gotha, and Mme.
Hortense Lepaute.
According to Lalande, Mme. du Pierry was the first woman professor of
astronomy in Paris. He dedicated to her his _Astronomie des Dames_, and
incorporated in his own works many of her memoirs on astronomical
subjects. She devoted much time to calculating eclipses with a view to
accurately determining the motion of the moon, and was, besides, the
author of numerous astronomical tables which exhibit patient research
and unquestioned skill.
The Duchesse Louise had a great reputation as a rapid and accurate
computer, and was celebrated for the number and variety of her
computations. Her modesty, however, prevented her from publishing
anything or even having her work quoted.
Considering, however, the amount and character of her work, the most
eminent woman astronomer that France has yet produced was, without
doubt, Mme. Hortense Lepaute, the wife of the royal clockmaker of
France. She first distinguished herself by her investigations on the
oscillations of pendulums of different lengths, an account of which is
to be found in her husband's valuable work, _Traite d'Horlogerie_,
published in 1755.
In 1759 Lalande, who was then the Director of the Paris Observatory,
engaged Mme. Lepaute and the celebrated mathematician, Clairaut, to
determine the amount of the attraction of Jupiter and Saturn on Halley's
comet, whose return was expected in that year. So difficult was this
problem, and so numerous were the complications involved, that Lalande
frankly confesses that he would not have dared to undertake its solution
without Mme. Lepaute's assistance. For it necessitated calculating for
every degree, and for one hundred and fifty years the distances and
forces of each of the planets with reference to the comet. "It would be
difficult," declares Lalande, "to realize the courage which this
enterprise required, if one did not know that for more than six months
we calculated from morning until night, sometimes even at meals, and
that at the end of this enforced labor I was stricken by a malady which
affected me during the rest of my life." Clairaut was so impressed by
Mme. Lepaute's energy and skill during this time that he declared "her
ardor was surprising," and he did not hesitate to call her _La savante
calculatrice_--the learned computer.[143]
The eclipse of 1762 also engaged Mme. Lepaute's attention, as did also
the annular eclipse of 1764. The latter was a curious phenomenon for
France, as it had never before been observed. Mme. Lepaute calculated it
for the whole of Europe and published a chart showing its path for every
quarter of an hour. She also published another chart for Paris, in which
were exhibited the different phases of the eclipse.
On the occasion of the different eclipses which she had calculated, Mme.
Lepaute recognized the advantage of having a table of parallactic
angles. She accordingly prepared a very extended table of this kind
which was published by the French government. Besides this table, she
was the author of numerous memoirs on astronomical subjects. Among them
was one embracing calculations based on all the observations which had
been made on the transit of Venus in 1761.
"In 1759," again writes Lalande, "I was given charge of the
_Connaissance des Temps_, a work which the Academy of Sciences published
every year for the use of astronomers and navigators, the calculations
for which gave occupation to several persons. I had the good fortune to
find in Mme. Lepaute a co-worker without whom I should not have been
able to undertake the labor required. She continued in this occupation
until 1774, when another Academician assumed this laborious task. But
she thereupon began work on the _Ephemeris_, of which the seventh volume
in quarto, which appeared in 1774, goes to 1784, and of which the
eighth, published in 1783, extends to the year 1792. In this latter
volume she made, unaided, all the computations for the sun, the moon and
all the planets.
"This long series of calculations finally enfeebled her eyesight, which
had been excellent, and she was in the last years of her life obliged to
discontinue them."[144]
In view of her extraordinary and long-continued work in her chosen
specialty, M. Lalande was quite warranted in stating that "Mme. Lepaute
is the only woman in France who has acquired veritable knowledge in
astronomy; and she is now replaced only by Mme. du Pierry, who has
published divers astronomical calculations, and who has deserved to have
dedicated to her _L'Astronomie des Dames_, which appeared in 1786."
It is gratifying to know that the beautiful Japan Rose--originally
called _Pautia_, but changed to _Hortensia_ by Jussieu--was named after
this distinguished woman. It is also gratifying to be assured that her
engrossing work in astronomy in no wise caused her to neglect her home
duties or to lose that sweetness of character and delicacy of refinement
for which she was noted before she entered upon the absorbing and taxing
career of astronomical computer.
The wife of Lalande's nephew, Mme. Lefrancais de Lalande, proved herself
in many respects a worthy successor of Mme. Lepaute. "My niece," writes
her uncle, Jerome Lalande, "aids her husband in his observations and
draws conclusions from them by calculation. She has reduced the
observations of ten thousand stars, and prepared a work of three hundred
pages of horary tables--an immense work for her age and sex. They are
incorporated in my _Abrege de Navigation_.
"She is one of the rare women who have written scientific books. She has
published tables for finding the time at sea by the altitude of the sun
and stars. These tables were printed in 1791 by the order of the
National Assembly.... In 1799 she published a catalogue of ten thousand
stars, reduced and calculated."
This distinguished observer and computer had a daughter in whom her
grand-uncle was particularly interested. "This daughter of astronomy,"
he tells us, "was born the twentieth of January, 1790, the day on which
we at Paris saw for the first time the comet which Miss Caroline
Herschel had just discovered. The child was accordingly named Caroline;
her godfather was Delambre."
The discoverer of the comet referred to was, in many ways, a most
remarkable woman. She was the sister of Sir William Herschel, the
illustrious pioneer of modern physical astronomy and the virtual founder
of sidereal science, as we know it to-day. She was also the aunt of Sir
John Herschel, who was the only rival of his uncle, Sir William, as an
explorer of the heavens.
But she was far more than a mere relative of these immortal leaders in
astronomic science. She herself was an astronomer of distinction, and
is known, in the annals of astronomy, as the discoverer of no fewer than
eight comets. Great, however, as was her skill as an observer and
computer, it was as her brother's assistant that she is entitled to the
most distinction. Her affection for him was as unbounded as her devotion
to his life work was abiding and productive of great results. For fifty
years, after joining him in England--they both had been born and bred in
Hanover--she was ever at his side, to assist him in his labors and to
cheer him by her words of counsel and encouragement. She helped him to
grind and polish the mirrors that were used in his epoch-making
reflectors. This was a most arduous task; for, at that time, there was
no machinery sufficiently exact for grinding specula, and, as a
consequence, the work had all to be done by hand. So interested was the
great astronomer in his work, when polishing his larger specula, that he
forgot all about the passage of time, and on these occasions his sister
was constantly obliged, as she herself informs us, "to feed him by
putting the victuals by bits into his mouth by way of keeping him
alive." When finishing his seven-foot reflector he was on one occasion
found so intent on his work that "he had not taken his hands from it for
sixteen hours together."
In our day, when all kinds of astronomical apparatus are made by
machinery, it is difficult for us to realize what stupendous labor was
required to produce those giant telescopes with which the Herschels made
their great discoveries and by which they, at the same time,
revolutionized the science of the stars. For they had not only to design
and make the specula, but also the mountings of the mirrors as well.
And, in order to obtain the money required for material and workmen,
they were obliged to make telescopes for sale. This meant an immense
loss of precious time that would otherwise have been devoted to the
study of the heavens.
After long years of struggle, during which the devoted brother and
sister overcame countless difficulties of every kind, their condition
was somewhat ameliorated by financial aid from the government and by
William's appointment to the position of astronomer royal with a salary
of L200 a year. When Sir William Watson heard that this limited sum had
been granted by George III to the discoverer of Georgium Sidus--the
planet now known as Uranus--he exclaimed, "Never bought monarch honor so
cheap."
Shortly afterwards Caroline was appointed as assistant to her brother at
a salary of L50 a year. This we should now consider but a nominal sum,
but she managed to live on it. When she received the first quarterly
payment of twelve pounds she wrote in her memoirs, "It was the first
money I ever in all my lifetime thought myself to be at liberty to spend
to my liking." Her appointment as assistant to her brother is notable
from the fact that she was the first woman in England, if not in the
world, to hold such a position in the government service.
Miss Herschel held this official appointment until Sir William's death
in 1822. When not acting as her brother's assistant or secretary, she
devoted her time to what she quaintly called "minding the heavens." It
was during this period that she made her most important discoveries. As
assistant, however, to so indefatigable an observer as Sir William
Herschel, she had but little time for sweeping the heavens, for, when at
home, Sir William "was invariably accustomed to carry on his
observations until day-break, circumstances permitting, without regard
to seasons; it was the business of his assistant to note the clocks and
to write down the observations from his dictations as they were made.
Subsequently she assisted in the laborious numerical calculations and
reductions, so that it was only during his absence from home or when any
other interruption of his regular course of observation occurred that
she was able to devote herself to the Newtonian sweeper, which she used
to such good purpose. Besides the eight comets by her discovered, she
detected several remarkable nebulae and clusters of stars, previously
unnoticed, especially the superb nebulae known as No. 1, Class V, in Sir
William Herschel's catalogue. Long practice taught her to make light of
her work. 'An observer at your twenty-foot when sweeping,' she wrote
many years after, 'wants nothing but a being who _can_ and _will_
execute his commands with the quickness of lightning; for you will have
seen that in many sweeps six or twice six objects have been secured and
described in one minute of time.'"[145]
It was her quick, intelligent action, combined with a patience,
enthusiasm and powers of endurance that were most extraordinary, that
made Caroline Herschel so valuable as an assistant to her brother, and
enabled him to achieve the unique position which is his among the
world's greatest astronomers. Had she been able to devote all her time
to "minding the heavens," it is certain that she would have made many
more discoveries than are now credited to her; but her service to
astronomy would have been less than it was as the auxiliary of her
illustrious brother. No two ever did better "teamwork"; no two were ever
more devoted to each other or exhibited greater enthusiasm in the task
to which they so heroically devoted their lives.[146]
In addition to her arduous and engrossing duties as secretary and
assistant to her brother, Caroline found time to prepare a number of
works for the press. Among these were a _Catalogue of Eight Hundred and
Sixty Stars Observed by Flamsteed but not Included in the British
Catalogue_ and _A General Index of Reference to Every Observation of
Every Star in the Above-mentioned British Catalogue_. She had the honor
of having these two works published by the Royal Society. Another, and a
more valuable work, was _The Reduction and Arrangement in the Form of
Catalogue, in Zones, of All the Star-Clusters and Nebulae Observed by Sir
W. Herschel in His Sweeps_. It was for this catalogue that a gold medal
was voted to her by the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828--a production
that was characterized as "a work of immense labor" and "an
extraordinary monument to the unextinguished ardor of a lady of
seventy-five in the cause of abstract science." To her nephew, Sir John
Herschel, it proved invaluable, as it supplied the needful data "when he
undertook the review of the nebulae of the northern hemisphere." It was
also a fitting prelude to Sir John's _Cape Observations_, a copy of
which great work she received from her nephew nearly twenty years
subsequently, after he had completed his famous observations of the
southern heavens in his observatory at the Cape of Good Hope.
"By a most striking and happy coincidence," writes Mrs. John Herschel,
"she, whose unflagging toil had so greatly contributed to its successful
prosecution in the hands of her beloved brother, lived to witness its
triumphant termination through the no less persistent industry and
strenuous labor of his son; and her last days were crowned by the
possession of the work which brought to its glorious conclusion Sir
William Herschel's vast undertaking--_The Survey of the Heavens_."
That Miss Herschel's labors in the cause of astronomy were appreciated
by her contemporaries is evidenced by the honors of which she was the
recipient. The first of these honors came in the form of a gold medal,
unanimously awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society for her reduction
of twenty-five hundred nebulae "discovered by her illustrious brother,
which may be considered as the completion of a series of exertions
probably unparalleled either in magnitude or importance in the annals of
astronomical labor."
It was on this occasion, when referring to the immensity of the task
which Sir William Herschel had undertaken, that the vice-president of
the society paid a deserving tribute to the great astronomer's devoted
sister, in which is found the following statement:
"Miss Herschel it was who by right acted as his amanuensis; she it was
whose pen conveyed to paper his observations as they issued from his
lips; she it was who noted the right ascensions and polar distances of
the objects observed; she it was who, having passed the night near the
instrument, took the rough manuscripts to her cottage at the dawn of day
and produced a fair copy of the night's work on the following morning;
she it was who planned the labor of each succeeding night; she it was
who reduced every observation, made every calculation; she it was who
arranged everything in systematic order; and she it was who helped him
to obtain his imperishable name."[147]
Besides this gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society, Miss
Herschel also received two others, one from the King of Denmark and the
other from the King of Prussia. The latter was accompanied by a most
eulogistic letter from Alexander von Humboldt, who informed her that the
medal was awarded her "in recognition of the valuable services rendered
by her as the fellow worker of her immortal brother, Sir William
Herschel, by discoveries, observations and laborious calculations."
In 1835, when she was eighty-five years of age, Miss Herschel had the
signal honor of being elected, along with Mrs. Somerville, an honorary
member of the Royal Astronomical Society. As they were the first two
women in England to receive such recognition for their contributions to
science, it seems desirable to reproduce here an extract from the report
of the council of the society regarding the bestowal of an honor which
marked so distinct a change in England of the attitude that should be
taken toward women who excelled in intellectual achievements. The
extract reads as follows:
"Your council has no small pleasure in recommending that the names of
two ladies distinguished in different walks of astronomy be placed on
the list of honorary members. On the propriety of such a step, in an
astronomical point of view, there can be but one voice; and your council
is of the opinion that the time is gone by when either feeling or
prejudice, by whichever name it may be proper to call it, should be
allowed to interfere with the payment of a well-earned tribute of
respect. Your council has hitherto felt that, whatever might be its own
sentiment on the subject, or however able and willing it might be to
defend such a measure, it had no right to place the name of a lady in a
position the propriety of which might be contested, though upon what it
might consider narrow grounds and false principles. But your council has
no fear that such a difference could now take place between any men
whose opinion could avail to guide the society at large; and, abandoning
compliment on the one hand and false delicacy on the other, submits
that, while the tests of astronomical merit should in no case be applied
to the works of a woman less severely than to those of a man, the sex of
the former should no longer be an obstacle to her receiving any
acknowledgment which might be held due to the latter. And your council,
therefore, recommends this meeting to add to the list of honorary
members the names of Miss Caroline Herschel and Mrs. Somerville, of
whose astronomical knowledge, and of the utility of the ends to which it
has been applied, it is not necessary to recount the proofs."[148]
Three years after this splendid recognition of Miss Herschel's
astronomical labors she was elected an honorary member of the Royal
Irish Academy.
But exceptional as were the honors conferred on her by sovereigns and
learned societies, none of them afforded her the extreme satisfaction
that she experienced on the receipt of a copy, shortly before her death,
of her nephew's epochal _Cape Observations_; for, as has well been said,
"nothing in the power of man to bestow could have given such pleasure on
her death-bed as this last crowning completion of her brother's work."
We are told that a copy, just from the press, of his immortal work, _De
Orbium Celestium Revolutionibus_, in which he had established the
heliocentric theory of the planetary system, was placed in the hands of
Copernicus on the day of his death, just a few hours before he expired.
He seemed conscious of what it was; but, after touching it and
contemplating it for a moment, he lapsed into a state of insensibility
which soon terminated in death. With Miss Herschel the case was
different. Although in her ninety-seventh year, she still retained
possession of all her faculties and was fully able to appreciate the
volume which told of the crowning of her brother's life work--a volume
which must have given her additional satisfaction when she recalled her
fifty years of loyal service at her brother's side as his associate and
ministering angel in the greatest work ever undertaken by a single man
in the history of astronomy.
Caroline Herschel died at the advanced age of ninety-seven years and ten
months, retaining to the last her interest in astronomy which had
occupied her mind for more than three-quarters of a century.
Her epitaph, composed by herself, is engraved on a heavy stone slab
which covers her grave and contains the following words: "The eyes of
her who is glorified were here below turned to the starry heavens. Her
own discoveries of comets and her participation in the immortal labors
of her brother, William Herschel, bear witness of this to future ages."
Space precludes any extended reference to Miss Herschel's distinguished
associate in the Royal Astronomical Society, Mrs. Somerville, whose
masterly translation and exposition of Laplace's _Mecanique Celeste_
secured for her so enviable a place among the mathematicians of her
time, and placed all English students of mathematical astronomy under
such deep obligations. It is true that she ever manifested a lively
interest in celestial phenomena; but it is rather as a mathematician
than as an astronomer that she will be remembered by the devotees of
science.
The first American woman to win distinction in astronomy was Miss Maria
Mitchell. Born in the island of Nantucket in 1818, she, at an early age,
displayed remarkable talent for astronomy and mathematics. Her first
instructor was her father, who, besides being a school teacher, had
from his youth been an enthusiastic student of astronomy, and that, too,
at a time when very little attention was given to its study in this
country, and when the observatory of Harvard College consisted of only a
little projection to an old mansion in Cambridge, in which there was a
small telescope.
At the age of thirteen little Maria counted seconds by the chronometer
for her father while he observed the annular eclipse of the sun in 1831;
and from that time on she was his assiduous co-worker in the study of
the heavens. After teaching school for some years, she became the
librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum, a position which she held for
nearly twenty years. Here she continued the study of her favorite
science, and read all the books on astronomy which she could obtain. It
was during this period that she read Bowditch's translation of Laplace's
_Mecanique Celeste_ and Gauss's _Theoria Motus Corporum Caelestium_ in
the original.
On the evening of October 1, 1847, she was the discoverer of a comet
that attracted great attention because it secured for her a medal
offered by the King of Denmark in 1831 for the first one who should
discover a telescopic comet. The same comet was observed by Father de
Vico in Rome two days subsequently, by Dawes in England on October
seventh, and by Madame Ruemker, wife of the director of the observatory
of Hamburg, on the eleventh of the same month. As there was no Atlantic
cable in those days, it was not known who was the fortunate winner of
the prize until nearly a year afterward, when word was received from
Denmark announcing that the priority of Miss Mitchell's discovery had
been recognized and that she would be the recipient of the prize, which,
for a while, it was thought would go to De Vico or Madame Ruemker.[149]
In 1849 Miss Mitchell was appointed a compiler for the _Nautical
Almanac_, a position she held for nineteen years. During the same period
she was employed by the United States Coast Survey.
When Vassar College was opened in 1865 for the higher education of
women, Miss Mitchell was called to fill the chair of astronomy and to be
the first director of the observatory. In this position she soon
succeeded in giving astronomy a prominence that it never had had before
in any other college for women, and in but few for men.
Miss Mitchell was a member of several learned societies and the author
of a number of papers containing the results of her observations on
Jupiter and Saturn and their satellites. But she is notable chiefly for
being the first woman astronomer in the United States and for training
up a number of young women who have followed in her footsteps as
enthusiastic astronomers. She held her position at Vassar until 1889,
when she died, a few months before her seventy-first birthday.
Since the pioneer days of Miss Caroline Herschel, the number of women
throughout the world who have achieved distinction in astronomy has
rapidly augmented. One of the most noted of these was Caterina
Scarpellini, niece of Feliciano Scarpellini, professor of astronomy in
Rome, restorer of the Academy of the Lyncei, and founder of the
Capitoline Observatory. Born in 1808, she manifested at an early age a
decided taste for astronomy, which was carefully developed by her uncle.
She it was who organized the Meteorologico Ozonometric station in Rome
and edited its monthly bulletin. She exhibited a special interest in
shooting stars and prepared the first catalogue of these meteors
observed in Italy. In 1854 she discovered a comet. She has also left
valuable studies on the probable influence of the moon on
earthquakes--studies which brought her distinction from several of the
learned societies of Europe. In 1872 the Italian government decreed her
a gold medal for her statistical labors in science. Since her death her
countrymen have recognized the value of her contributions to science by
erecting a statue to her memory.
Another woman who has won enduring fame in the annals of astronomy is
Miss Dorothea Klumpke, of San Francisco. While yet quite young, she and
her sisters were taken to Europe to be educated. There she soon became
proficient in a number of languages, and then devoted herself to the
study of mathematics and astronomy. After securing her baccalaureate and
licentiate in Paris, she applied for admission as a student to the Paris
observatory. "The directors of the observatory consulted the statutes.
No woman had hitherto proposed herself as a colleague, but there was no
rule opposing it. They themselves approved, and gave her a telescope to
make her own observations. After a time she completed the work begun by
Mme. Kovalevsky on the rings of Saturn, which she made the subject of
her thesis, and, when she had become Doctor of Science, she was given a
decoration by the Institute and made an _Officier de l'Academie_."
After Miss Klumpke had brilliantly defended her thesis in the Sorbonne,
M. Darboux, the president of the jury, complimented the young American
doctor on her splendid work and concluded a notable address in her honor
in the following laudatory words:
"The great names of Galileo, of Huyghens, of Cassini, of Laplace,
without speaking of those of my illustrious colleagues and friends, are
attached to the history of every serious step forward made in this
attractive and difficult theory of Saturn's rings. Your work constitutes
another valuable contribution to the same subject and places you in an
honorable rank beside those women who have consecrated themselves to the
study of mathematics. In the last century Maria Agnesi gave us a
treatise on the differential and integral calculus. Since then Sophie
Germain, as remarkable for her literary and philosophical talent as for
her faculty for mathematics, won the esteem of the great geometricians
who honored our country at the commencement of this century. It is but a
few years since the Academy awarded one of its most beautiful prizes
which will place the name of Mme. Kovalevsky beside those of Euler and
Lagrange in the history of discoveries relative to the theory of the
movement of a solid body about a fixed point.... And you, mademoiselle,
your thesis is the first which a woman has presented and successfully
defended before our faculty for the degree of doctor in mathematics. You
worthily open the way, and the faculty unanimously makes haste to
declare you worthy of obtaining the degree of doctor."
Besides her thesis just referred to, Miss Klumpke is the author of
numerous communications to scientific journals and learned societies
regarding her researches on the spectra of stars and meteorites and
other allied subjects. For many years she was at the head of the bureau
in the Paris Observatory for measuring the photographic plates that are
to be used in the large catalogue of stars and map of the heavens which
are to constitute the crowning achievements of the International
Astronomical Congress. She was the first woman to be elected a member of
the Astronomical Society of France, and the character of her work as an
observer as well as a computer has given her an enviable position among
the astronomers of the world.[150]
In America another woman has won renown among astronomers by
successfully executing the same kind of work as was entrusted to Miss
Dorothea Klumpke in Paris. For many years Mrs. W. Fleming, with her
large corps of women assistants, had charge of the immense collection of
astronomical photographs in the Observatory of Harvard University. To
her and her staff were assigned the reductions and measurements of the
photographic and photometric work done in Cambridge and Arequipa, Peru.
She was singularly successful in her studies of photographic plates and
made many discoveries which astronomers regard of the greatest
importance. By such studies she and her assistants detected many new
nebulae, double and variable stars, besides spectra of different types
and of rare interest. In addition to this they examined and classified
tens of thousands of photographs of stellar spectra, a labor which
involved countless details of reduction and measurements of exceeding
delicacy and skill.
A complete list of the women who, during the past half century, have
devoted themselves to the study of astronomy and who have contributed to
its advancement by their observations and writings would be a very long
one. Among those, however, whose labors have attracted special notice,
mention must be made of the Misses Antonia C. Maury, Florence Cushman,
Louisa D. Wells, Mabel C. Stephens, Eva F. Leland, Anna Winlock, Annie
J. Cannon and Henrietta S. Leavitt, all of whom are on the staff of the
Harvard Observatory.
Then, too, there are many women who occupy important positions as
professors or assistant professors in our colleges and universities.
Chief among these in the United States are Sarah F. Whiting, of
Wellesley; Mary W. Whitney, of Vassar; Mary E. Boyd, of Smith; Susan
Cunningham, of Swarthmore, and Annie S. Young, of Mt. Holyoke. Nor must
we forget such able computers as Mrs. Margaretta Palmer, of Yale, and
Miss Hanna Mace, the clever assistant of the late Simon Newcomb in the
Naval Observatory in Washington.
In the Old World among the women who, during the last few decades, have
materially contributed to the progress of astronomy, either as observers
and computers or as writers, are Miss Alice Everett, who has done
splendid work in the observatories of Greenwich and Potsdam, Misses M.
A. Orr, Mary Ashley, Alice Brown, Mary Proctor--daughter of the late
astronomer, R. A. Proctor--Agnes M. and Ellen M. Clerke, and Lady
Huggins, of England; Mmes. Jansen, Faye, and Flammarion, in France; the
Countess Bobinski, in Russia; and Miss Pogson, in the Observatory of
Madras, India.
In conclusion, it is but just to observe that women's work in astronomy
has by no means been confined to their contributions as observers,
writers and computers. Reference must also be made to the financial aid
which they have given to various observatories and learned societies for
the furtherance of astronomical research both in the New and the Old
World. It must suffice here to recall the endowment at Harvard
University of the Henry Draper Memorial, by Mrs. Henry Draper, in order
that the work of photographing stellar spectra, which occupied her
husband's later years, might be continued under the most favorable
auspices, and the munificent sum of fifty thousand dollars given by Miss
C. Bruce, of New York, for the construction of a large telescope
especially designed for photographing faint stars and nebulae. The
photographs taken with this instrument will be used in the preparation
of the great chart of the heavens which is to be the joint production of
the chief observatories of the world.
FOOTNOTES:
[134] Cf. the preceding chapter, p. 140. See also _Histoire de
l'Astronomie Ancienne_, Tom. I, p. 317, par. M. Delambre, Paris, 1817.
[135] "Calor etiam solis in hieme maior est sub terra quam super terram,
quod si tunc frigus tantum esset sub terra quam super terram, vel si in
aestate calor tantus esset sub terra quantus est super terram, de
immoderatione ista terra tota scinderetur." _Hildegardis Causae et Curae_,
p. 7, Lipsiae, 1903.
[136] _Commentaire de Theon d'Alexandrie_, p. X, translated by the Abbe
Halma, Paris, 1882.
[137] "Enfin de leur faire connoistre qu'elles ne sont pas incapable de
l'estude, si elles s'en vouloient donner la peine puisqu'entre le
cerveau d'une femme et celui d'un homme il n'y a aucune difference." Cf.
_Journal de Savans_, Tom. III, p. 304, a Amsterdam, 1687.
[138]
D'ou vient qu'elle a l'oeil trouble et le teint si terni?
C'est que sur le calcul, dit-on, de Cassini,
Un astrolabe a la main, elle a, dans la gouttiere,
A suivre Jupiter passe la nuit entiere.
[139] "Celebre inter observatores hujus aevi nomen adeptus est Godfredus
Kirchius, astronomus nuper regius in Societate Scienciarum Berlinensi;
mense Julio A, 1710 mortuus. Ejus vidua, Maria Magdalena Winckelmannia,
non minore in observando et calculo astronomico dexteritate pollet, ac
in utroque labore maritum, cum viveret, fideliter juvit ... quod laudi
ducitur foeminae ea animo comprehendisse, quae sine ingenii vi studiique
assiduitate non comprehenduntur," _Acta Eruditorum_, pp. 78, 79, Lipsiae,
1712.
[140] _Preface Historique_ to _Principes Mathematiques de la Philosophie
Naturelle_ par feue Madame la Marquise du Chastellet, Tom. I, p. V,
Paris, 1759.
[141] _The Unpublished Correspondence of Madame du Deffand_, Vol. I, pp.
202-203, London, 1810.
[142] Mme. du Deffand's venomous letter, somewhat abridged, reads as
follows: "Imagine a tall, hard and withered woman, narrow-chested, with
large limbs, enormous feet, a very small head, a thin face, a pointed
nose, two small sea-green eyes, her color dark, her complexion florid,
her mouth flat, her teeth set far apart and very much decayed; there is
the figure of the beautiful Emilie, a figure with which she is so well
pleased that she spares nothing for the sake of setting it off. Her
manner of dressing her hair, her adornments, her top-knots, her jewelry,
all are in profusion; but, as she wishes to be lovely in spite of
nature, and as she wishes to appear magnificent in spite of fortune, she
is obliged, in order to obtain superfluities, to go without necessaries
such as under-garments and other trifles.
"She was born with sufficient intellect, and the desire to appear as
though she had a great deal made her prefer to study the most abstract
sciences rather than more general and pleasant branches of knowledge.
She thought she would gain a greater reputation by this peculiarity and
a more decided superiority over other women.
"She did not limit herself to this ambition. She wished to be a princess
as well, and she became so, not by the grace of God nor by that of the
King, but by her own act. This absurdity went on like the others. One
became accustomed to regard her as a princess of the theatre, and one
almost forgot that she was a woman of rank.
"Madame worked so hard to appear what she was not that no one knew what
she really was. Even her faults were perhaps not natural. They may have
had something to do with her pretensions, her want of respect with
regard to the state of princess, her dullness in that of _savante_, and
her stupidity in that of a _jolie femme_.
"However much of a celebrity Mme. du Chatelet may be, she would not be
satisfied if she were not celebrated, and that is what she desired in
becoming the friend of M. de Voltaire. To him she owes the _eclat_ of
her life, and it is to him that she will owe immortality." See _Lettres
de la Marquise du Deffand a Horace Walpole_, Tom. I, pp. 200-201, Paris,
1824.
As a contrast to this atrocious caricature, it is but due to the memory
of Mme. du Chatelet to give her portrait by Voltaire, to whom she was
ever the beautiful, the charming Urania, the
"Vaste et puissante genie,
Minerve de la France, immortelle Emilie."
It is contained in the following verses:
"L'esprit sublime et la delicatesse,
L'oubli charmante de sa propre beaute
L'amitie tendre et l'amour emporte
Sont les attraits de ma belle maitresse."
If the whole truth were known, it would, doubtless, be found somewhere
between the above extreme and contradictory views, and the cause of the
caustic statements of Mesdames de Stael and du Deffand would probably be
found to be quite accurately expressed in the first part of Voltaire's
_Epistle on Calumny_, which was written about the beginning of his
particular relationship with "the divine Emilie." The first lines of
this epistle, as translated by Smollett, are:
"Since beautiful, 'twill be your fate,
Emelia, to incur much hate;
Almost one-half of human race
Will even curse you to your face;
Possesst of genius, noblest fire,
With fear you will each breast inspire;
As you too easily confide,
You'll often be betrayed, belied;
You ne'er of virtue made parade,
To hypocrites no court you've paid,
Therefore, of Calumny beware,
Foe to the virtuous and the fair."
[143] In his work on _Comets_, Clairaut at first gave Mme. Lepaute full
credit for her work which had been of such inestimable service to
himself; but, in order to gratify a woman who, having pretensions
without knowledge, was very jealous of the superior attainments of Mme.
Lepaute, he had the weakness subsequently to suppress his generous
tribute to merit. Commenting on this strange conduct of his assistant,
Lalande expresses himself as follows: "We know that it is not rare to
see ordinary women depreciate those who have knowledge, tax them with
pedantry and contest their merit in order to avenge themselves upon them
for their superiority. The latter are so few in number that the others
have almost succeeded in making them conceal their acquirements."
[144] _Bibliographie Astronomique_, pp. 676-687, par Jerome de la Lande,
Paris, 1803.
[145] _Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel_, p. 144, by Mrs.
John Herschel, London, 1879.
[146] So sensitive was Miss Herschel in her old age regarding the
reputation of her brother, William, who had always been her idol and the
one in whom she had concentrated all her affection, that she came to
look askance at every person and thing that seemed calculated to dull
the glory of his achievements. Thus her niece, in writing to Sir John
Herschel, after her death, declares: "She looked upon progress in
science as so much detraction from her brother's fame; and, even your
investigations would have become a source of estrangement had she been
with you." In a letter to Sir John Herschel, written four years before
her death, she exhibits, in an amusing fashion, her jealous spirit anent
the great telescope of Lord Rosse. "They talk of nothing here at the
clubs," she writes, "but of the great mirror and the great man who made
it. I have but one answer for all--_Der Kerl ist ein Narr_--the fellow
is a fool."
Even "Every word said in her own praise seemed to be so much taken away
from the honour due to her brother. She had lived so many years in
companionship with a truly great man, and in the presence of the
unfathomable depths of the starry heavens, that praise of herself seemed
childish exaggeration." And notwithstanding the honor and recognition
which she received from learned men and learned societies for her truly
remarkable astronomical labors, her dominant idea was always the
same--"I am nothing. I have done nothing. All I am, all I know, I owe to
my brother. I am only a tool which he shaped to his use--a well-trained
puppy-dog would have done as much." Op. cit., pp. IX, 335 and 346.
[147] Op. cit., p. 224.
[148] _Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel_, ut. sup., pp.
226-227.
[149] _Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters and Journals_, compiled by Phebe
Mitchell Kendall, p. 267 et seq., Boston, 1896.
[150] Miss Klumpke, the reader may be interested in knowing, belongs to
a singularly gifted family. Her sister, Augusta, is a distinguished
physician and an authority on nervous diseases. Hers is the glory to be
the first woman permitted, after an exceptionally severe examination, to
serve as _interne_ in the Paris hospitals. Julia, her youngest sister,
who achieved distinction as a violinist with Ysaye, was one of the first
to pass the examination required of women entering the Paris _Lycees_,
while Anna, the eldest, has won fame as an artist, and as the friend,
heiress and executrix of France's famous daughter, Rosa Bonheur.