Jocelyn Gill (1916–April 26, 1984) was an American astronomer who worked for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Biography

Jocelyn R. Gill graduated from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

in 1938. She worked at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

as a laboratory assistant and instructor of astronomy, before being hired at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and receiving her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

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 ...

in 1959. Gill joined

in 1961 where she worked on the manned space program, carried out research, held the position of chief of in-flight science from 1963 to 1966, and worked on

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

. She participated in a solar eclipse flight in July 1963 on which she observed the sun's corona and aimed to teach the astronauts travelling with her about astronomy; a field they were not otherwise required to be knowledgeable in. Gill was 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 respons ...

and received the Federal Women's Award in 1966. Gill was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

and in 1966 received an award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for being their woman of the year. She died of the disease in April 1984 at the age of 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Jocelyn 1916 births 1984 deaths NASA people Yale University alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American women astronomers Project Gemini 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists Wellesley College alumni