[Wism-l] Scottish maid did more astronomy for less $

[Flora Grabowska]

FACT OF THE DAY (Sunday)

Today in 1911 saw the death by pneumonia of astronomer Williamina 
Fleming. Fleming was born Williamina Stevens in Dundee in 1857; she 
married and moved to the US when she was 21. She was employed as a 
maid to Professor Pickering of Harvard University who, disappointed 
with his assistants, declared his maid could do a better job and 
promptly hired her. Fleming helped catalogue over 10,000 stars and 
discovered 222 herself. She was made an honorary member of the Royal 
Astronomical Society in London in 1906. Find out more about Fleming's 
remarkable life at 
<http://heritage.scotsman.com/people.cfm?id=418662006>heritage.scotsman.com


bcc: wism,pam

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Flora Grabowska, Science Librarian      phone 845 437 5788 
Box 553
Vassar College,                         fax   845 437 5864
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Vassar College Library Website: http://library.vassar.edu/vcl/index.html