Queer Places:
Vassar College (Seven Sisters), 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Prospect Hill Cemetery, Hummock Pond Rd, Nantucket, MA 02554
Maria
Mitchell (August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, who in
1847 by using a telescope, discovered a comet, which as a result became known
as "Miss Mitchell's Comet."[1]
She won a gold medal prize for her discovery, which was presented to her by
King Frederick VI of Denmark. On the medal was inscribed "Non Frustra
Signorum Obitus Speculamur et Ortus"" in Latin (taken from Georgics by
Virgil (Book I, line 257)[2]
(English: "Not in vain do we watch the setting and rising [of the stars]").[3]
Mitchell was the first American woman to work as a professional astronomer.[4][5]
IIn 1843, she left the Quaker faith and followed Unitarian principles. In
protest against slavery, she stopped wearing clothes made of southern cotton.
She was friends with various suffragists such as
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and co-founded the Association for the Advancement
of Women in 1873.[30]
Mitchell became a celebrity following her discovery and awards, with
hundreds of newspaper articles written about her in the subsequent decade.[31]
At her home in Nantucket, she entertained prominent academics of the time such
as
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Herman
Melville, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth.[32]
Mitchell never married, but remained close to her immediate family
throughout her life. After she retired from Vassar College in 1888, she lived
in Lynn, Massachusetts, with her sister Kate and her family.[33]
Very few of her personal documents remain from before 1846. The Mitchell
family believes she witnessed personal papers of fellow Nantucketers blown
through the street by the Great Fire of 1846, and because fear of another fire
persisted, she burned her own documents to keep them private.[34]
Mitchell died of brain disease on June 28, 1889, at the age of 70, in Lynn,
Massachusetts. She was buried in Lot 411, in Prospect Hill Cemetery,
Nantucket.[35][36]
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Mitchell