Pickering and the Female Computers. In 1881,
Edward Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory, became so impatient with a male lab assistant’s work that he famously declared his maid could do a better job. Rather than take offense, his 24-year-old maid,
Williamina Fleming, instead took him up on the offer. She ended up working at the Observatory for the next 30 years, supervising the tedious work of cataloging photographic plates, but also discovering variable stars and novae, helping to develop a classification system—and,
perhaps even more importantly, hiring nearly 40
female assistants, many of whom went on to have
distinguished scientific careers.
[more inside]
posted by mothershock
on Sep 20, 2008 -
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