Emilia Pauline Pisani (Lee) Belserene (December 12, 1922 – December 11, 2012) was an American astronomer specializing in the observation of

variable star 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 ...

s and recognized as an expert on

RR Lyrae variable RR Lyrae variables are periodic variable stars, commonly found in globular clusters. They are used as standard candles to measure (extra) galactic distances, assisting with the cosmic distance ladder. This class is named after the prototype ...

stars. She became known for her work as the 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 c ...

in Nantucket and for her biographical writings on

Maria Mitchell Maria Mitchell ( /məˈraɪə/; August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later known as "Miss Mit ...

Education and career

Belserene was a student at

New Rochelle High School New Rochelle High School (NRHS) is a public high school in New Rochelle, New York. It is part of the City School District of New Rochelle and is the city's sole public high school. Its student body represents 60 countries from around the world. I ...

, and was awarded a full scholarship to

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

. She became the only astronomy student there, with astronomer Clinton B. Ford as a faculty mentor. She graduated

summa 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 So ...

in 1943, and went to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

for part-time graduate study while at the same time raising a family and teaching part-time at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...

. She completed her Ph.D. in 1953. Her dissertation, ''Period changes of variable stars in Messier 3'', was supervised by

Martin Schwarzschild Martin Schwarzschild (May 31, 1912 – April 10, 1997) was a German-American astrophysicist. Biography Schwarzschild was born in Potsdam into a distinguished German Jewish academic family. His father was the physicist Karl Schwarzschild and ...

. It involved observations using the 36-inch

refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses and ...

at the Lick Observatory in California; although this telescope had long been in use, with first light in 1888, Belserene was the first woman to use it. She became a professor of astronomy at

Lehman College Lehman College is a public college in the Bronx borough of New York City. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within CUNY in September 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman ...

and then, in 1979, was hired as director of the

. In her period as director of the observatory, she supervised many student research projects involving the observations of variable stars, and the analysis of those observations using computer algorithms she had written, leading to over 100 publications. She retired in 1991, moved to

Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021. The city's ha ...

, and died on December 11, 2012.

Recognition

Belserene was named a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

in 1959.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belserene, Emilia Pisano 1922 births 2012 deaths American astronomers American women astronomers Smith College alumni Columbia University alumni Hunter College faculty Lehman College faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science