Women in Early British and Irish Astronomy: Stars and Satellites

281 Pages·2009·4.659 MB·English

by  Mary Brück (auth.)

Mary Brück
Women in Early
British and
Irish Astronomy
Stars and Satellites
123
Women in Early British and Irish Astronomy
Mary Brück
Women in Early British
and Irish Astronomy
Stars and Satellites
MaryBrück
ISBN978-90-481-2472-5 e-ISBN978-90-481-2473-2
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-2473-2
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
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Foreword
Theroleofwomeninthegrowthofsciencehasbecomeanimportantareaofmodern
historicalscholarlyresearch.Andasfarasthestudyoftheroleofwomeninastron-
omyisconcerned,Dr.MaryBru¨ckisanestablishedandillustriouspioneer,withan
internationalreputationandacclaimedbooksandarticlesalreadytohercredit.Her
presentbook,StarsandSatellites,bringstogethermanyfigureswhoworkedovera
300-yeartimescale,andwhoserelationshipwithastronomyrangedfrominformed
assistants to independentresearchers to major writers and interpreters of contem-
poraryastronomyto,eventually,paidprofessionals.Butwhatismore,MaryBru¨ck
is the undoubted pioneer in the study of Irish women scientists, several of whom
appearinthepresentvolume,forIrelandwasoneofthemostastronomically-active
regionsof the British Isles in the nineteenth century.And as she is a professional
astronomerherself,withaUniversityCollegeDublintraining,combinedwithalove
of historyandan Irishwoman’sgeniusfornarrativeand the giftof makingpeople
cometolife,herlatestbookisbothamineofinformationandajoytoread.
In the present-day world, where it is accepted that capable girls will have full
accesstosecondaryandthenhighereducation,andwillproceedtotheprofessions
with a first-rate training behind them, we tend to have a distorted view of earlier
scientificwomen.Itistruethatmostgirlsandwomeninthepastwerenotexpected
tobecomeinvolvedinscienceandscholarship,andastheelderlyMarySomerville
recordedinherPersonalRecollections(asmentionedinChapter6),accesstolearn-
ing in the days of her youth, around 1800, was not easy. But I would argue that
theopportunityforwomentomakesignificantcontributionsto sciencein general,
andtoastronomyinparticular,wasperhapsgreaterintheBritishIsles(andperhaps
theUSA)thanitwouldhavebeenincontinentalEurope.Andthisderivedfromthe
socialorganisationofBritishscience,especiallyaftertheFrenchRevolutionaryand
Napoleonicwarswhichbeganinthe1790s.
During and after these devastating wars, several European countries remod-
elledtheirancientuniversities,whiletheFrenchRevolutionaryE´colePolytechnique
(1794)andthenewuniversitiesofBerlin(1809),Bonn(1818),andthere-founding
ofMunichbroughtfreshpowerfulresearchinstitutionsintobeing.Indeed,manyof
thecountriesofpost-NapoleoniccontinentalEuropecametore-inventkeypartsof
vii
viii Foreword
their national identities by means of high culture: music, literature, critical schol-
arship,scientificresearch,andhighereducation.Theseuniversities,conservatoires,
instituts,acade´mies,andsimilarbodiesgenerallyreceivedstatefunds,usuallyfrom
taxation,tobespentinthecauseofadvancingnationalculturalprestige.Theywere
hierarchicinstitutions,oftenunderthepatronageofministersofstateandoperated
viaofficially-appointedcareerdirectorsandprofessorswhoweretheretodrawup
andsuperviseresearchplans.Andyes,theypaidintellectualdividendsintermsof
studentnumbersanddiscoveries,withmajorresearchschoolsinchemistry,physiol-
ogy,puremathematics,andothersciencesby1840.Theirmostsuccessfulgraduates
emerged with the new, prestigious Ph.D. degree, and then hoped in their turn to
ascendtheirrespectiveacademicladderstoseniorchairsanddirectorships.Inmany
ways, the internalorganisationof these academic institutionshad been influenced
by the lurch towards political absolutism, starting with Bonaparte and continuing
withEurope’sKings,Emperors,andCzarswho,regainingtheiroldauthorityafter
1815,weredeterminedtopreventpopularlibertarianideasfrombreakingoutagain.
Yet the education system that arose from Europe’s revolutionary and Napoleonic
maelstromwasverymuchofaman’sworld,towhichwomenhadnoaccess.
In Great Britain, however, things were very different. Emerging as the victor
from the Napoleonic wars, it managed to channel its home-grownpopular unrest
peacefully through a stream of reform legislation, and there was no need for a
powerful Parliament and a now largely constitutional monarchy to re-establish
national identity through centralised institutions of high culture. Britain had an
alreadyfirmly-rootedandvigorousintellectualandculturallife,butitwasexpressed
through private, self-governing institutions. Seven ancient independent universi-
tiesexistedacrossEngland,Scotland,andIrelandbefore1828,togetherwithgreat
nationallearnedsocieties,suchasTheRoyalSociety(1660),TheSocietyofAnti-
quaries (1717), The Royal Academy (1768), The Royal Astronomical Society
(1820),and The British Association forthe Advancementof Science (1831).And
then by 1830 there were scores of literary and philosophical societies across the
kingdom,aswellasaburgeoningnumberofmechanics’institutions.Yetnotasin-
gle penny of government money went to any of them, nor could any minister of
stateexertanycontrol,fortheuniversitiesandeventhosesocietieswithroyaltitles
were still constitutionally independent,paid their own way, and elected their own
memberswithoutanyofficialinterference.
Consequently, Britain’s cultural and scientific organisation worked on a self-
electing rather than on a hierarchical basis, and while the above-mentionedinsti-
tutionswere undoubtedlymale-dominated,the system itself containedan inherent
flexibility. I have styled this system ‘Grand Amateur’, for the scientists and other
culturedpeopleoperatingwithinitwereself-confessed‘Amateurs’insofarasthey
pursuedtheirsubjectsforloveandnotforgain,and‘Grand’becausetheysupplied
fromtheir ownmeans the financialand technicalresourceswith which to address
greatprojects,betheytheadvancementofBritishartorthediscoveryofnebulaein
deepspace.
And curiouslyenough,this wasa worldinto whichintelligent,originalwomen
astronomerscouldenter,andwheretheycouldmakeaseriouscontribution,forthe
Foreword ix
holdingof an M.A. or Ph.D. degree or of an academic post was not necessary.In
theearlydaysthisentrywouldusuallybeeffectedbymeansofahusband,brother,
or father, who was already active in astronomy. But then, because of the flexibil-
ityoftheBritishsocialsystem,morewomenstartedtocomethroughintheirown
right, such as the mathematician, astronomer, and writer Mary Somerville. Some
of these women had particularly enlightened parents who gave them a first-class
privateeducation,forexamplethe Irish ‘ScholarlySisters’ Agnesand MaryEllen
Clerke, and Lady MargaretHuggins (ne´e Lindsay), whom we will meet in Chap-
ters11and12.Otherspickeduptheirastronomyfromworkingwithmalerelatives,
such as Caroline Herschel, Elizabeth Brown, and Caroline Lassell. By the 1880s,
moreover,women were beginningto enter astronomyon the strength of a univer-
sity training in science, such as Annie Maunder and Alice Everett, though their
subsequentscientific careerswere still veryoftenin the privateresearchtradition.
But by the early twentieth century, as Mary Bru¨ck makes clear, both astronomy
andastronomerswerechanging.Theescalatingcostandtechnologicalcomplexity
of the ‘new astronomy’were movingthe science, especially in the USA, towards
anacademicprofessionalism,leadingtotheBritish-bornCeciliaPayne-Goposhkin
becomingthefirstwomanHarvardPh.D.astronomerandfullHarvardprofessorin
astronomy.
WiththeexceptionofspecialmembershipgrantedtobothCarolineHerscheland
MarySomervillein1835,theRoyalAstronomicalSocietywastoelectnowoman
toitsFellowshipuntilachangewasmadetoitsstatutesin1916.Longbeforethat,
however – since the early 1880s, in fact – the new, large ‘metropolitan’ amateur
astronomicalsocieties of Liverpool,then Leeds, Manchester,Belfast, and Cardiff,
had been electing women on equal terms to men, and even on to their governing
councils,asalso hadtheprofessionalRoyalMeteorologicalSociety.Indeed,these
high-levelamateursocietieswerethefirstscientificbodiestogiveavoicetowomen
whoenjoyedseriousastronomybutwere notperhapsin the full‘GrandAmateur’
league, but worked as teachers or were independent ladies of means. And it was
Elizabeth Brown of Cirencester – who with her sister Jemima was co-heiressto a
familyvintner’sbusiness– whowas the drivingforcebehindthe foundingof The
BritishAstronomicalAssociationin1891.
It is clear that Mary Bru¨ck’s chief interest lies in the incidents and circum-
stancesthatformindividualhumanlives.Forshecomesfroma narrativetradition
of historical scholarship, and is not concerned with issues in feminist theory. Her
interest is individual people and, in this particular study, how a couple of dozen
women,bornacrossthreecenturies,allcometoengagewithastronomyonaserious,
ground-breakinglevel. And it is due to Mary Bru¨ck’s eye for personality,motiva-
tion,originality,andpersistenceinthefaceofobstaclesthatthewomenwhoselives
andcareersshetracesandanalysestakeonthefascinationthattheydo.
This is also a very positive, uplifting, and beautifully-written book, and while
fullyacknowledgingthedifficultieswithwhichmanyofthesewomenastronomers
hadtograpple,itnonethelessgivesusafreshvisionofwhatdeterminedindividuals
could,andstillcan,achieve.
AllanChapman
Acknowledgements
Manyfriendsoldandnewhaveprovidedencouragementaswellasenlightenment
tomewhile puttingtogetherthisbook.Iwould liketothankinparticularBarbara
Becker, Mary Creese and Ian Elliott, helpful correspondents for many years, and
Allan Chapman who has also very kindly contributed the Foreword. I owe a spe-
cial debt of gratitude to Vanda Morton, who generously allowed me to read and
usetheunpublishedmemoirsofTherezaStory-Maskelyne,andtoMichaelHoskin,
who kindly advised me on my chapter on Caroline Herschel. Peter Hingley, the
immensely erudite librarian and archivist at the Royal Astronomical Society has
generouslyfoundmeillustrationsfromtheSociety’sarchives.Otherswhohelpedin
variouswaysandwhomIwishtothankareRichardBaum,JohnBirt,TomBogden,
Andrew Bru¨ck, Mary Croarken, AnthonyCross, Clive Davenhall, Rickard Deasy,
David Gavine, Gerard Gilligan, Ian Glass, Mark Hurn, Kevin Kilburn, Anthony
Kinder, Sir Patrick Moore, Richard Morris, Willie Soon, Terry Moseley, Stephen
Wainright,GeorgeWilkins.IwouldalsoliketorememberthelateSheelaghGrew
of Armagh Observatory,a dear friend and a valuable contributor to the history of
Irishastronomy.
I also thank the archivists who kindly provided material on this and on earlier
occasionsespeciallyAdamPerkins,RoyalGreenwichObservatoryarchives,Cam-
bridgeUniversityLibrary;AnthonyKinder,BritishAstronomicalAssociation;Kate
Perry, Girton College Cambridge; the archivists of Lick Observatory, California;
WellesleyCollege,USA,VassarCollege,USA.Mostofall,Iamdeeplygratefulto
KarenMoran,librarianattheRoyalObservatoryEdinburgh,formakingherknowl-
edgeandexpertisesogenerouslyandcheerfullyavailable,andtoJasonCowanwho
copiedmostoftheillustrations,thesourcesofwhicharecreditedindividually.
Andrew Lawrence, Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edin-
burgh, is warmly supportive of historical research and of the value of archive
conservation.Itis a pleasure to thankhim and my formercolleaguesat the Royal
Observatory Edinburgh for their friendship. Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the
labours of the editors, Sue Bowler and Simon Mitton, of the Royal Astronomical
Society,whobroughtmyofferingtofruition.
Penicuik
May2008
xi
Contents
Introduction ....................................................................... xiv
1 ACleverandDeterminedWife ............................................. 1
2 TheLabyrinthsofHeaven................................................... 9
3 MartyrtoAstronomy ........................................................ 25
4 TheArtofNavigation........................................................ 45
5 Celebrities..................................................................... 57
6 QueenofScience.............................................................. 67
7 IntheShadowofGiantMirrors ............................................ 91
8 TheAdmiral’sCircle......................................................... 107
9 IntrepidTravellers............................................................ 127
10 AdventurousAmateurs ...................................................... 151
11 TheNewAstronomy.......................................................... 161
12 TheScholarlySisters......................................................... 185
13 Slave-WageEarners.......................................................... 203
14 SunspotsandCorona......................................................... 221
xiii