Florence Cushman
Cushman in May 1913
BornJanuary 30, 1860
Boston, Massachusetts, US
DiedJanuary 30, 1940 (Aged 80)
Belmont, Massachusetts, U.S.
Burial placeMount Auburn Cemetery
EducationCharlestown High School, 1877
EmployerHarvard College Observatory
Known forCushman was one of the "Harvard Computers"

Florence Cushman (1860-1940) was an American astronomer specializing in stellar classification at the Harvard College Observatory who worked on the Henry Draper Catalogue.

This photo was taken in 1918. It is a picture called "paper doll" in which Harvard Computers are shown holding hands. Left to right: Ida E. Woods, Evelyn Leland, Florence Cushman, Grace Brooks, Mary Vann, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Mollie O'Reilly, Mabel Gill, Alta Carpenter, Annie Jump Cannon, Dorothy Block, Arville Walker, Frank E. Hinckley (telescope operator), Edward King (chief of stellar photography).

Life

Florence was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 3rd, 1860 and received her early education at Charlestown High School, where she graduated in 1877. In 1888, she began work at the Harvard College Observatory as an employee of Edward Pickering, observing and classifying stars. Florence was one of the “Harvard Computers”[1] who worked under Pickering and, following his death in 1919, Annie Jump Cannon.[2] Her classifications of stellar spectra contributed to Henry Draper Catalogue between 1918 and 1934.[3] She stayed as an astronomer at the Observatory until 1937 and died January 30, 1940, at the age of 80.[4]

Career at the Harvard College Observatory

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Florence Cushman worked and was a member of the Harvard College Observatory from 1888 to 1937.[5] Over the course of her forty-nine years at Harvard, she employed the objective prism method to analyze, classify, and catalog the optical spectra of hundreds of thousands of stars. In the 19th century, the photographic revolution enabled more detailed analysis of the night sky than had been possible with solely eye-based observations. In order to obtain optical spectra for measurement, male astronomers at the Observatory worked at night, exposing glass photographic plates to capture the astronomical images.

Black and white photo of the Harvard Computers and Mary Anna Palmer Draper. Left to right: unknown woman (standing), unknown woman (seated), possibly Evelyn Leland, Mrs. Draper (seated), Antonia Maury, Williamina Fleming, possibly Mabel C. Stevens (or some other Stevens), probably Florence Cushman, unknown woman.
Harvard Computers and Mary Anna Palmer Draper are pictured together. Taken in the long computing room on the south side of the second floor of the building in 1891, facing east. Left to right: unknown woman (standing), unknown woman (seated), possibly Evelyn Leland, Mrs. Draper (seated), Antonia Maury, Williamina Fleming, possibly Mabel C. Stevens (or some other Stevens), probably Florence Cushman, unknown woman.

During the daytime, female assistants like Florence analyzed the resultant spectra by reducing values, computing magnitudes, and cataloging their findings.[6][7] She is credited with determining the positions and magnitudes of the stars listed in the 1918 edition of the Henry Draper Catalogue,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] which featured the spectra of roughly 222,000 stars. In describing the dedication and efficiency with which the Harvard Computers, including Florence, undertook this effort, Edward Pickering said, "a loss of one minute in the reduction of each estimate would delay the publication of the entire work by the equivalent of the time of one assistant for two years."[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hern, Daisy; ez (2019-05-23). "The Famous Women Who Explored Space". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  2. ^ "The Female Astronomers Who Captured the Stars".
  3. ^ Spradley, Joseph (1990). "Women in the Stars". The Physics Teacher. 28 (6): 372–377. Bibcode:1990PhTea..28..372S. doi:10.1119/1.2343078.
  4. ^ Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). "Cushman, Florence". Women in science : antiquity through the nineteenth century : a biographical dictionary with annotated bibliography (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780262650380.
  5. ^ "The pioneering women who helped us picture the stars". Cosmos Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  6. ^ "Computers at Work: Astronomical labor at the HCO at the turn of the century". Archived from the original on 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  7. ^ Vidyasagar, Aparna (2019-11-13). "How One Woman Helped Measure the Universe". KCET. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  8. ^ Cannon, Annie J.; Pickering, Edward C. (1918). "The Henry Draper catalogue 0h, 1h, 2h, and 3h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 91: 1. Bibcode:1918AnHar..91....1C.
  9. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1918). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 4h, 5h and 6h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 92: 1. Bibcode:1918AnHar..92....1C.
  10. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1919). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 7h and 8h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 93: 1. Bibcode:1919AnHar..93....1C.
  11. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1919). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 9h, 10h, and 11h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 94: 1. Bibcode:1919AnHar..94....1C.
  12. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1920). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 12h, 13h, and 14h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 95: 1. Bibcode:1920AnHar..95....1C.
  13. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1921). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 15h and 16h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 96: 1. Bibcode:1921AnHar..96....1C.
  14. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1922). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 17h and 18h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 97: 1. Bibcode:1922AnHar..97....1C.
  15. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1923). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 19h and 20h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 98: 1. Bibcode:1923AnHar..98....1C.
  16. ^ Cannon, Annie Jump; Pickering, Edward Charles (1924). "The Henry Draper catalogue : 21h, 22h, and 23h". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 99: 1. Bibcode:1924AnHar..99....1C.
  17. ^ Dava, Sobel (31 October 2017). The Glass Universe : How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars. New York. ISBN 978-0143111344. OCLC 972263666.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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