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| One of ten children born to Wlliam Mitchell on
Nantucket, MA in 1818, Maria Mitchell was encouraged by her parents to
study math and science. Such an undertaking for a woman in the 1800s may
have created criticism and doubt elsewhere in the U.S., but Nantucket embraced
her endevours.
As a girl, she lived with her family above the Pacific National Bank, located in downtown Nantucket. During a dinner party one evening in 1847, she took to the roof with her 2.4inch telescope and discovered a comet. For her discovery, she was awarded a gold medal from the King of Denmark (after some controversy) and became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (after years of denial by her contemporaries) . She later became the first woman Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College. The Maria Mitchell Association is dedicated to her scientific vigor and passion. |
REU-ing
it...
NANTUCKET has changed my life! (This is a true account...Not
the trailer to a t.v. series.)
"Stationed" with 5 other students in a quant New England village for nearly three months (we lived above the museum of natural history) -- who knew we were destined to become soulmates, fence on a nude beach (carefully), encounter ghosts, and discover alternative personalities (I make a great Cetus)?
(Actually...We lived with six additional people, plus the many unaccounted for frequent visitors.)
Other than gaining priceless knowledge in astronomical research, we aided in Public Open Nights and observatory tours. On our tour of observatories, we flew from Boston to New Mexico, visiting the VLA, and bused through Arizona, observing at NURO, of the Lowell Observatory, and Kitt Peak.