Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit (March 12, 1907 – April 9, 2007) was an American senior research

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. She is best known for her work in

variable stars A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. His ...

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

meteors A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mic ...

, and the

Bright Star Catalog The Bright Star Catalogue, also known as the Yale Catalogue of Bright Stars, Yale Bright Star Catalogue, or just YBS, is a star catalogue that lists all stars of stellar magnitude 6.5 or brighter, which is roughly every star visible to the nak ...

. She is also known for her mentorship of many young women and generations of astronomers.

Life

Hoffleit's interest in astronomy began with the 1919 Perseid meteor shower that she saw with her mother. In 1928, she graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

with a B.A. in mathematics. She then went on to work for the

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...

, searching for variable stars. In 1938, she was awarded a Ph.D. in astronomy from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

and was subsequently hired, in 1948, as an astronomer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. She remained at Harvard until 1956 when she moved to

. She remained at Yale until retirement in 1975. At Yale she followed in the footsteps of

Ida Barney Ida Barney (November 6, 1886 – March 7, 1982) was an American astronomer, best known for her 22 volumes of astrometric measurements on 150,000 stars. She was educated at Smith College and Yale University and spent most of her career at the Yal ...

, taking over her astrometric work, and of whom she later wrote "To know erwas a pleasure, inspiration, and privilege, both at work and socially." Hoffleit also served as director of the

Maria Mitchell Observatory The Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA, was founded in 1908 and named in honor of Maria Mitchell, the first American woman astronomer. It is a major component of the Maria Mitchell Association. The Observatory actually co ...

Nantucket Island Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

from 1957 to 1978, where she ran summer programs (May–October) for more than 100 students, many of whom went on to successful careers in astronomy. In her final years at Yale, Hoffleit taught basic courses in astronomy to undergraduates. Her passionate lectures in Davies Hall, usually with over 100 students, inspired and awed them. She engendered a lifelong interest in astronomy for young women and men, many of whom were just satisfying a prerequisite to their undergraduate degrees. During the mid 1950s, Hoffleit consulted for the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Ballistic Research Laboratories The Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) was a leading United States Army, U.S. Army research establishment situated at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland that specialized in ballistics (internal ballistics, interior, external ballistics, exterior, a ...

in " Doppler reductions". She was the main editor of the Yale ''

Bright Star Catalogue The Bright Star Catalogue, also known as the Yale Catalogue of Bright Stars, Yale Bright Star Catalogue, or just YBS, is a star catalogue that lists all stars of stellar magnitude 6.5 or brighter, which is roughly every star visible to the na ...

.'' The Catalogue is a compendium of information on the 9,110 brightest stars in the sky. She also co-authored ''

The General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', containing precise distance measurements to 8,112 stars, information critical to understanding the

kinematics Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the Motion (physics), motion of points, Physical object, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause ...

of the

Milky Way galaxy The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...

and the evolution of the

solar neighborhood The Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), also known as the Local Fluff, is an interstellar cloud roughly across, through which the Solar System is moving. This feature overlaps a region around the Sun referred to as the solar neighborhood. It is unk ...

. With Harlan J. Smith, Hoffleit discovered the optical variability of the first-discovered

quasar A quasar is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a m ...

3C 273 3C 273 is a quasar located in the constellation of Virgo (constellation), Virgo. It was the first quasar ever to be identified. It is the optically brightest quasar in the sky from Earth (apparent magnitude, m ~12.9), and one of the closest with ...

. In 1988, Hoffleit was awarded the

George Van Biesbroeck Prize The George Van Biesbroeck Prize is an award for long-term achievements in the field of astronomy. According to the American Astronomical Society awards website; "The Van Biesbroeck prize is normally awarded every two years and honors a living indi ...

by the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

for a lifetime of service to astronomy. On March 7-8, 1997,

hosted a symposium in honor of Hoffleit's 90th birthday, dedicated to her nearly 70-year career. Hoffleit turned 100 on March 12, 2007, and died a month later from complications of cancer.

References

External links

Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit, member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame
*

from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Papers, 1906-2005.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. *Picture of Dorrit Hoffleit: https://web.archive.org/web/20140116114142/http://www.astro.yale.edu/vlg8/images/dorrit.jpg.jpeg
E. Dorrit Hoffleit Papers (MS 1915).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffleit, Dorrit 1907 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American women People from Florence, Alabama American astronomers American centenarians Women astronomers Radcliffe College alumni Harvard University faculty Yale University faculty Harvard College Observatory people Women centenarians American women academics

Life

See also

References

Further reading

External links