Fleming , Williamina

Fleming , Williamina
(1857–1911) Scottish–American astronomer
Williamina Paton, as she was born, came from Dundee and worked for several years as a schoolteacher. In 1877 she married James Fleming and emigrated with him to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1878. Her marriage broke up and, forced to support her young son, she worked for Edward Pickering, director of the Harvard College Observatory, as a maid. As it was his policy to employ young women at the observatory as computers, Pickering, who quickly recognized her intelligence, offered her temporary employment as a copyist and computer in 1879. She was given a permanent post in 1881. She remained at the observatory for the rest of her life, serving as curator of astronomical photographs from 1899 until her death.
She worked with Pickering on the basic classification of stars into spectral types and was thus involved in the introduction of the original 17 classes arranged alphabetically from A to Q in terms of the intensity of the hydrogen spectral lines. This system was later modified and improved by her colleagues Annie Cannon and Antonia Maury.
Fleming was largely responsible for the classification of over 10,000 stars, published in 1890 in the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra. In the course of her work she discovered 10 novae and over 200 variable stars, and estimated that by 1910 she had examined nearly 200,000 photographic plates.

Scientists. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fleming, Williamina Paton Stevens — ▪ American astronomer née  Williamina Paton Stevens , byname  Mina  born May 15, 1857, Dundee, Tayside [now in Dundee], Scotland died May 21, 1911, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.       American astronomer who pioneered in the classification of… …   Universalium

  • Williamina Fleming — Nacimiento 15 de mayo de 1857 Dundee, Escocia Fallecimiento 21 de mayo de 1 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming — (* 15. Mai 1857 in Dundee, Schottland; † 21. Mai 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts) war eine US amerikanische Astronomin. Sie entwickelte ein System zur Klassifizierung von Sternen und entdeckte zahlreiche Gasnebel, Sterne und Novae. Ihre Eltern… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fleming (crater) — lunar crater data latitude=15.0 N or S=N longitude=109.6 E or W=E diameter=106 km depth= Unknown colong=252 eponym=Alexander Fleming Williamina FlemingFleming is a large lunar crater that is located on the Moon s far side, and can not be seen… …   Wikipedia

  • Williamina Fleming — Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (15 mai 1857 21 mai 1911) est une astronome américaine d origine écossaise. Fleming naît à Dundee en Écosse où elle fait ses études. À 14 ans elle commence à aider à l enseignement des plus jeunes sous l égide du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Williamina Fleming — Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (* 15. Mai 1857 in Dundee, Schottland; † 21. Mai 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts) war eine US amerikanische Astronomin. Sie entwickelte ein System zur Klassifizierung von Sternen und entdeckte zahlreiche Gasnebel,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fleming (Familienname) — Fleming ist ein Familienname. Bekannte Namensträger Inhaltsverzeichnis A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Williamina Fleming — Infobox Scientist name = Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming box width = image width =150px caption = Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming birth date = May 15, 1857 birth place = Dundee, Scotland death date = May 21, 1911 death place = Boston residence …   Wikipedia

  • Fleming — A Fleming is an inhabitant (or descendant thereof) of Flanders, a region overlapping parts of modern Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. See Flemish people. People Fleming is a surname in English speaking countries. It may point to an ancestral …   Wikipedia

  • Fleming — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Sur les autres projets Wikimedia : « Fleming », sur le Wiktionnaire (dictionnaire universel) Plusieurs personnalités célèbres portent le… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”