Madge Gertrude Adam (6 March 1912 – 25 August 2001) was an English solar

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 ...

who was the first postgraduate student in solar physics at the University of Oxford observatory.

Early life and education

Adam was born the youngest of three children near

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

, where her father was a teacher at Drayton Park School. With the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he enlisted and was killed in action at

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

in 1918 causing her mother and siblings to relocate to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

to live with her mother's parents. She became ill at the age of nine and spent a year at the Liverpool Open-Air Hospital to treat her skeletal tuberculosis of an elbow and rickets. On her release from hospital, Adam won a scholarship to Doncaster High School in South Yorkshire, where she gained a life-long passion for science and mathematics. In 1931, she enrolled in

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

with a scholarship in physics, becoming "the first woman to achieve a first in physics at Oxford". There she gained an MA followed by a D.Phil. from

Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formall ...

Career

When a new director of the Oxford observatory, who had just installed the university's first

solar telescope A solar telescope is a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun. Solar telescopes usually detect light with wavelengths in, or not far outside, the visible spectrum. Obsolete names for Sun telescopes include heliograph and photoheliograph ...

, announced his research program in solar physics, Adam (who had just earned a first in physics) knocked on his door and said, "How about me?" By joining the research team, she became the first postgraduate student and solar physicist at the university's observatory. Over the years, she became a key figure there for the remainder of her life, eventually becoming acting director during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

after the director left to work on aircraft production. She became permanent assistant director thereafter and took over the observatory's financial accounts. She was appointed an assistant tutor at St. Hugh's, and also "taught astronomy courses, with an emphasis on

astronavigation Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space (or on the surface o ...

, to

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

cadets". She was "internationally known for her work on the nature of sunspots and on their magnetic fields." She was a lecturer at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in the Department of Astrophysics from 1937–1979, and was a fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

from 11 March 1938.

Selected publications

* ADAM, Madge Gertrude. ''Interferometric Measurements of Solar Wave-Lengths and an Investigation of the Einstein Gravitational Displacement.(Reprinted from the Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society.)''. Taylor & Francis, 1948. * Adam, Madge Gertrude. "A new determination of the centre to limb change in solar wave-lengths." ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' 119.5 (1959): 460-474. * Adam, Madge G., and H. Bondi. "The observational tests of gravitation theory." ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences'' 270.1342 (1962): 297-305. * Adam, Madge G. "Discussion of the results obtained by three tests of Einstein's relativity theory made on astronomical bodies from 1918 to 1960." ''PROCEEDINGS, SERIES A'' 270 (1962): 297-304. * Adam, Madge Gertrude. "Line contours in sunspot regions." ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' 136.1 (1967): 71-90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Madge Gertrude 1912 births 2001 deaths Women astronomers 20th-century British astronomers People from Highbury Academics of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society 20th-century British women scientists Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford