Williamina Fleming

Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming ( born May 15, 1857 in Dundee, Scotland, † May 21, 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American astronomer. She developed a system for the classification of stars and discovered numerous gaseous nebulae, stars and novae.

Her parents were Robert Stevens and Mary Walker Stevens. She attended public schools in Dundee and was 14 years old student teacher. She married James Orr Fleming. When she was 21 years old, the couple moved to Boston ( Massachusetts). Her husband left her when she was pregnant with her son Edward. So they had to find work to earn a livelihood for themselves and their child.

She found a job as a maid in the house of Professor Edward Charles Pickering. Pickering, impressed by the intelligence Flemings, and dissatisfied with his male assistant at the Harvard College Observatory said its domestic workers could do their job better. So Pickering instructed in the observatory in 1881 Williamina with office work and from 1886 with the classification of stars. They devised a system for classifying stars and helped to introduce it. The system was based on a letter assigned to each star depending upon how much hydrogen has been observed in its spectrum. A star had the most hydrogen, B star less, and so on. Overall, Fleming grouped the stars in 17 categories.

Annie Jump Cannon improved the system and developed a simple classification based on the temperature. Fleming was involved in the cataloging of stars, which was later published as Henry Draper Catalogue. In nine years, she cataloged more than 10,000 stars. In their work they discovered 59 nebulae, 310 variable stars and novae 10. In 1907 she published a list of 222 variable stars, which they had discovered.

They became responsible for dozens of women who were hired to perform mathematical classifications, and she edited the publications of the Observatory. In 1899 she received the title of Curator of Astronomical Photographs and 1906, she was made an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London - the first woman to receive this honor. Shortly thereafter, she received an Honorary Fellow at Wellesley College. Shortly before her death, the Mexican Astronomical Society drew them for the discovery of new stars with the Guadalupe Almendaro medal.

Fleming became convinced that astronomy is a suitable activity for women. In her article, A Field For Woman 's Work in Astronomy, she went to the activities of themselves and their colleagues at the observatory closer and tried the motivation of women to strengthen, to scientifically contribute to astronomy.

She died in 1911 in Boston of pneumonia.

Swell

• Renate Strohmeyer: Encyclopedia of natural scientists and natural knowledgeable women in Europe. Verlag Harri German, ISBN 3-8171-1567-9, p.106.