Mary Teresa Brück (née Conway; 1925-2008) was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
astronomer, astrophysicist and historian of science, whose career was spent at
Dunsink Observatory
The Dunsink Observatory is an astronomical observatory established in 1785 in the townland of Dunsink in the outskirts of the city of Dublin, Ireland.Alexander Thom''Irish Almanac and Official Directory''7th ed., 1850 p. 258. Retrieved: 2011-02-2 ...
in Dublin and the Royal Observatory
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
in Scotland.
Early life
Mary Teresa Conway was born on 29 May 1925 in
Ballivor
Ballivor ( /'bælaɪvər/ BAL-eyevər; ) is a village in County Meath, Ireland. It had a population of 1,809 at the 2016 census. It is located on the R156 regional road between the towns of Mullingar and Trim.
Public transport
Bus Éireann ro ...
, County Meath, Ireland, the eldest of eight children. She used the Irish form of her name, Máire Treasa Ní Chonmhidhe, while attending convent school, where she showed talents for mathematics, science and music,
and at
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
where she studied physics. She earned BSc and MSc degrees, in 1945 and 1946, respectively.
Astronomer
Mary Conway was a postgraduate at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
(Scotland), where she carried out research in solar astrophysics, culminating in the award of a PhD in 1950. Her doctoral supervisor was fellow Irish-born scientist
Mervyn Archdall Ellison, then a principal scientific officer at the
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.
Conway returned to Dublin to work at the
Dunsink Observatory
The Dunsink Observatory is an astronomical observatory established in 1785 in the townland of Dunsink in the outskirts of the city of Dublin, Ireland.Alexander Thom''Irish Almanac and Official Directory''7th ed., 1850 p. 258. Retrieved: 2011-02-2 ...
. The observatory had reopened as a research institute in 1947 when it was transferred to the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...
, and the German-born astronomer
Hermann Brück
Hermann Alexander Brück CBE FRSE (15 August 1905 – 4 March 2000) was a German-born astronomer, who spent the great portion of his career in various positions in Britain and Ireland.
Education
Hermann Brück was born in Berlin. His fathe ...
(1905–2000) had been appointed as the new Director.
Conway and Hermann Brück, a widower with two children, married in 1951, after which she took the name Mary Brück.
She had three additional children with him.
Hermann Brück was appointed
Astronomer Royal for Scotland in 1957 and the family moved to Edinburgh. Brück was appointed a part-time lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1962. She subsequently became a full-time lecturer and was promoted to a senior lecturer.
Mary Brück carried out research into
stars
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
, the
interstellar medium and the
Magellanic Clouds
The Magellanic Clouds (''Magellanic system'' or ''Nubeculae Magellani'') are two irregular dwarf galaxies in the southern celestial hemisphere. Orbiting the Milky Way galaxy, these satellite galaxies are members of the Local Group. Because bo ...
. Some of this made use of photographic observations from the
United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope at
Siding Spring in
Australia.
She used the numbers, brightnesses and colours of stars in the Magellanic Clouds to study the structure and evolution of these nearby galaxies.
She published widely in the ''
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' (MNRAS) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in astronomy and astrophysics. It has been in continuous existence since 1827 and publishes letters and papers reporting orig ...
'', ''Publications of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh'', ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'' and ''
Astronomy and Astrophysics''.
In 2001, she was awarded the Lorimer Medal of the
Astronomical Society of Edinburgh in recognition of meritorious work in diffusing the knowledge of Astronomy among the general public.
In July 2017,
Dublin City University
Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its ...
named a building after Dr. Mary Brück in recognition of her contributions to science.
The Mary Brück Building at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
was also named in her honour.
Historian of science
Mary Brück collaborated with her husband on a biography of the 19th-century Astronomer Royal for Scotland,
Charles Piazzi Smyth
Charles Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900) was an Italian-born British astronomer who was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888; he is known for many innovations in astronomy and, along with his wife Jessica Duncan P ...
.
She developed a reputation as an historian of science, specialising in the work of women in astronomy, and the history of astronomy in Scotland and Ireland. She published articles in several different journals, including the
Irish Astronomical Journal, the
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
''Astronomy & Geophysics'' (''A&G'') is a scientific journal and trade magazine published on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) by Oxford University Press. It publishes a mixture of content of interest to astronomers and geophysicists ...
, the
Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage and the
Antiquarian Astronomer. She sat on the editorial board of the Antiquarian Astronomer.
Mary Brück wrote a book on
Agnes Mary Clerke, the prominent 19th-century Irish woman astronomer, author and commentator on science, ''Agnes Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics''.
This was followed by ''Women in Early British and Irish Astronomy: Stars and Satellites'', which described the work of women astronomers, many of whom had been overlooked previously.
Mary Brück contributed five articles to the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, and six to the
Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.
[Search for Brück as an author in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography at Oxforddnb.com/. Retrieved 26 January 2016.]
She is also the author of the classic 1965
Ladybird book, ''The Night Sky''.
References
External links
*
Astronomer and historian of astronomy: Mary BrückThe Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...
, Feb 17, 2009
Brück, Máire Treasa : Death noticeThe Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
Obituary: Dr. Mary BrückJournal of Astronomical History and Heritage (ISSN 1440-2807), Vol. 12, No. 1, p. 81 - 83 (2009).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruck, Mary Theresa
1925 births
20th-century women scientists
20th-century astronomers
20th-century Irish writers
20th-century Irish women writers
2008 deaths
Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society
Historians of astronomy
Irish astronomers
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish women non-fiction writers
Women astronomers
Women science writers
People from County Meath
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
20th-century non-fiction writers
Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies