Williamina "Mina" Paton Stevens Fleming
Personal Information
Born: 1857
Died: 1911
Country of Birth: Scotland
Nationality: Scottish-American
Ethnicity: White
Education
attended public schools in Dundee until she was 14 & was a student teacher from 14-20 when she married
""While we cannot maintain that in everything woman is man's equal, yet in many things her patience, perseverance and method made her his superior.… Therefore, let us hope that in astronomy, which now affords a large field for woman's work and skills, she may, as has been the case in several other sciences, at least prove herself his equal." (encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/fleming-williamina-paton-1857-1911); "
— Williamina "Mina" Paton Stevens Fleming
Professional Life
Field of Study: Astronomy
Institution/Corporation: Harvard College Observatory
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Astronomical & Astrophysical Society of America; Astronomical Society of France; Honorary Member Royal Astronomical Society of London (1906, 1st American woman elected)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: Guadalupe Almendaro Medal, Astronomiocal Society of Mexico; Honorary Fellow in Astronomy, Wellesley College
Achievements: discovered Horsehead Nebula in 1888 & helped develop a common designation system for the stars; in charge of the Draper Catalogue project; devised a system for classifying stars according to the relative amount of hydrogen observed in their spectra, known as the Pickering-Fleming system; also made it possible to go back and compare recorded plates by organizing thousands of photographs by telescope along with other identifying factors; credited with the discovery of the first white dwarf (40 Eridani B) & published her discovery in 1910; established the first photographic standards of magnitude used to measure the variable brightness of stars: 1891 discovered spectral variations corresponding to changes in the light from the star Beta Lyrae, indicating it was a double star;
Astronomer at Harvard University Observatory
was a single mother
helped develop a common designation system for stars and cataloged more than ten thousand stars, 59 gaseous nebulae, over 310 variable stars, and 10 novae and other astronomical phenomena
one of the founding members of the Harvard Computers
1878 she & her husband James Orr Fleming emigrated to Boston MA
after her husband abandoned her & their son she worked as a domestic for Professor Edward Charles Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory who later upon the recommendation of his wife taught her how to analyze stellar spectra & hired her to work at the Harvard College Observatory
1898 appointed Curator of Astronomical Photographs at Harvard-the first woman to hold the position
at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago she openly advocated for other women in the sciences in her talk "A Field for Woman's Work in Astronomy" where she openly promoted hiring female assistants in astronomy
until 1908 her name was omitted from the discovery of the Horsehead Nebulae in 1888 & it was attributed to Prof. Pickering only
notable publications include A Photographic Study of Variable Stars (1907), a list of 222 variable stars she had discovered; and Spectra and Photographic Magnitudes of Stars in Standard Regions (1911)
became a US citizen in 1907
Commemorated on the Dundee Women's Trail
Fleming lunar crater was jointly named after her and Alexander Fleming
asteroid 5747 Williamina is named after her
discovered 94 of the 107 unusual Wolf-Rayet stars known at the time
enjoyed cooking and needlework, and often sewed dolls costumed in Scottish Highland dress for her employees
1879 returned to Scotland to be with family when her son was born