Born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1857, Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming It is remembered as one of the most important figures in the history ofModern astronomy. His personal and professional affair is an emblematic example of determination and talent, capable of overcome gender and social class barriers which deeply marked the scientific world of the time.
At just 21 he moved to the United States with her husband James Fleming, settling in Boston. However his life changed radically when, pregnant with their first child, he was abandoned by her husband. Forced to maintain itself, he found work as a maid at the Professor Edward Charles Pickering family, director of theHarvard Observatory.
The beginning of the scientific career at the Harvard Observatory
Pickering, dissatisfied with his men’s assistants, sensed intelligence and precision of Williamina and hired it in 1881 as engaged to the Observatory. The choice proved to be a winner: Williamina began to work as “human calculator”, Examining the photographic slabs of the sky to classify the stars on the basis of their ghosts. He was among the first women to be involved in a systematic work of astronomical classificationanticipating an epochal change in female participation in scientific research.
The stellar classification and the great discoveries
One of his major contributions was the development of a Stellar classification system based on the quantity of hydrogen visible in the spectrum of the stars. The system, published in 1890 under the name of Pickering but with an internal attribution to Fleming, became the starting point for the Modern classification Then processed by Annie Jump Cannon.
During her career, Williamina Fleming catalog more than 10,000 starsyou discover 10 Novae, 59 Gassose nebulas and beyond 310 Variable Stars. Among these, the discovery of the Horse head nebula In the constellation of Orion is perhaps the most famous. His description was recorded in 1888 on the basis of an image taken to the Observatory and only the discovery was officially recognized.
A central role in the scientific community
In addition to scientific work, Fleming played a coordination role within the Observatory, becoming Supervisor of the group of women known as “Harvard computers”. The publication of important studies such as A Photographic Study of Variable Stars (1907) e Spectra and Photographic Magnutes of Stars in Standard Regions (1911).
He received several awards: he was named curator of the photographic collection of the Observatory, Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London and awarded the Guadalupe The Almeraro medal from the astronomical society of Mexico shortly before his death.
Williamina Fleming died in Boston in 1911 due to pneumonia. His contribution opened the way to Active participation of women in science And his work laid the foundations for modern spectroscopic studies and star cataloging.
