Wertha Pendleton Cole (January 18, 1891 – January 1, 1959) was an American educational administrator and astronomer.''Leaders in Education'' p. 207

Biography

She was born on January 18, 1891, to

William Frederic Pendleton William Frederic Pendleton (March 25, 1845 – November 5, 1927) was the first Executive Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Biography Born in Savannah, Georgia, Pendleton was the son of Major Phili ...

. He was the founding bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from

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 Manhatt ...

in 1914. As part of her graduate work at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, in 1917-1918, she did

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

observations for Prof.

Samuel Alfred Mitchell Samuel Alfred Mitchell (April 29, 1874 – February 22, 1960) was a Canadian-American astronomer who studied solar eclipses and set up a program to use photographic techniques to determine the distance to stars at McCormick Observatory, where h ...

at the

McCormick Observatory The Leander McCormick Observatory is one of the astronomical observatories operated by the Department of Astronomy of the University of Virginia, and is situated just outside Charlottesville, Virginia (US) in Albemarle County on the summit of Mo ...

. She was the Dean of Women at

Bryn Athyn College Bryn Athyn College is a private Christian college in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. It is affiliated with the General Church of the New Jerusalem. History Bryn Athyn College started educating undergraduates after its incorporation under the laws of ...

from 1943 to 1958 and also headed the astronomy department.. She organized the Bryn Athyn team for

Operation Moonwatch Operation Moonwatch (also known as ''Project Moonwatch'' and, more simply, as ''Moonwatch'') was an amateur science program formally initiated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in 1956. The SAO organized Moonwatch as part of the ...

explaining: "I wanted to do something practical for the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

. I felt this was the best way to help."''The Sunday Bulletin'', Philadelphia, PA, May 18, 1958, Section 2, p. 1 She was a member of the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society from 1935 to 1959, serving as its secretary 1950-1951. She died on January 1, 1959.

Family

Her husband

Robert MacFarlan Cole III Robert MacFarlan Cole (December 26, 1889 – January 18, 1986) was an American chemical engineer, inventor, and author. He helped develop many chemicals, including freon and its use as a refrigerant and an aerosol repellent, a substance to co ...

was a chemist, and one of her sons,

Dandridge M. Cole Dandridge MacFarlan Cole (February 19, 1921 – October 29, 1965) was an American aerospace engineer, futurist, lecturer, and author. Biography Parents, education, and military service Cole was born February 19, 1921 in Sandusky, Ohio to Robert ...

, was a

space rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syst ...

designer...

Publications

*"Ancient Astronomy and Astrology," ''The Journal of Education,'' 1931, 27-35. *"Swedenborg's Work on the Longitude," ''The New Philosophy,'' 1933, 169-178.

Sources and references

1891 births 1959 deaths American women astronomers Columbia University alumni University of Virginia alumni {{US-astronomer-stub