Florence Cushman (1860-1940) was an American astronomer specializing in

stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction grati ...

at 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 ...

who worked on the ''Henry Draper Catalogue''.

Life

Edward Charles Pickering's Harem 13 May 1913

Florence was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1860 and received her early education at

Charlestown High School Charlestown High School is a public school located at 240 Medford Street in Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Charlestown High School is the only high school in Charlestown. Charlestown is part of the Boston Public Schools. A ...

, where she graduated in 1877. In 1888, she began work at the Harvard College Observatory as an employee of Edward Pickering. Florence was one of the "

Harvard Computers The Harvard Computers was a team of women working as skilled workers to process astronomical data at the Harvard Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The team was directed by Edward Charles Pickering (1877 to 1919) and, followi ...

" who worked under Pickering and, following his death in 1919,

Annie Jump Cannon Annie Jump Cannon (; December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of ...

. Her classifications of stellar spectra contributed to '' Henry Draper Catalogue'' between 1918 and 1934. She stayed as an astronomer at the Observatory until 1937 and died in 1940 at the age of 80.

Career at the Harvard College Observatory

Florence Cushman worked at the Harvard College Observatory from 1918 to 1937. Over the course of her nearly fifty-year career, she employed the

objective prism Slitless spectroscopy is astronomical spectroscopy done without a small slit to allow only light from a small region to be diffracted. It works best in sparsely populated fields, as it spreads each point source out into its spectrum, and crowded f ...

method to analyze, classify, and catalog the optical spectra of hundreds of thousands of stars. In the 19th century, the photographic revolution enabled more detailed analysis of the night sky than had been possible with solely eye-based observations. In order to obtain optical spectra for measurement, male astronomers at the Observatory worked at night, exposing glass

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinn ...

s to capture the astronomical images. During the daytime, female assistants like Florence analyzed the resultant spectra by reducing values, computing magnitudes, and cataloging their findings. She is credited with determining the positions and magnitudes of the stars listed in the 1918 edition of the ''Henry Draper Catalogue'', which featured the spectra of roughly 222,000 stars. In describing the dedication and efficiency with which the Harvard Computers, including Florence, undertook this effort, Edward Pickering said, "a loss of one minute in the reduction of each estimate would delay the publication of the entire work by the equivalent of the time of one assistant for two years."

References

External links

Harvard College Observatory History in Images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cushman, Florence American women astronomers 1860 births 1940 deaths People from Boston Harvard Computers

Life

Career at the Harvard College Observatory

See also

References

External links