Julie Marie Vinter Hansen (20 July 1890 – 27 July 1960) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

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 ...

Life

Early life

Vinter Hansen was born in

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Education

While studying at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

, she was appointed a computer at the University's observatory in 1915. In the pre-electronic era, ''computers'' were humans that worked doing hand calculations at the direction of astronomers. She was the first woman to hold an appointment at the University. She was later appointed observatory assistant and, in 1922, observer.

Career

Editor of Nordic Astronomy Review

She was a very energetic worker, who, along with her normal work of observing and performing mathematical reductions of observations took on the task of editing the ''Nordisk Astronomisk Tidsskrift'' (Nordic Astronomy Review).

International Astronomical Union

She later became Director of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

's telegram bureau and Editor of its Circulars.

Work as Astronomer at University of Copenhagen

By 1939, Vinter Hansen was the First Astronomer at the Observatory of the University of Copenhagen, widely known for her accurate computation of orbits of

minor planets According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

and

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat Award

In that 1939 she received the

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

(travel award), given to women that have made big contributions on arts or science. With the award money (DKK 10.000 or 160,000 of actual US $) undertook a tour through the United States to Japan and back. On her return trip in 1940, the outbreak of

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 ...

restricted her homeward journey.

Work in University of California

She was awarded a Martin Kellogg Fellowship at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

which allowed her to work for a time in the United States. Also in 1940 she was awarded the

Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy The Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to a woman resident of North America, who is within five years of receipt of a PhD, for distinguished contributions to astronomy or for similar ...

Return to Denmark

Vinter Hansen was appointed

Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

in 1956 and continued her career at the University of Copenhagen until 1960.

Death

Julie Vinter Hansen died in 1960, from a heart-failure just days before her retirement, in her beloved vacation destination, the Swiss mountain village of

Mürren Mürren is a traditional Walser mountain village in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland, at an elevation of above sea level and it cannot be reached by public road. It is also one of the popular tourist spots in Switzerland, and summer and wi ...

, and was buried in Copenhagen. The minor planet

1544 Vinterhansenia 1544 Vinterhansenia, provisional designation , is a dark asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 October 1941, by Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma at Turku Observatory ...

, discovered by Finnish astronomer

Liisi Oterma Liisi Oterma (; 6 January 1915 – 4 April 2001) was a Finnish astronomer, the first woman to get a Ph.D. degree in astronomy in Finland. She studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Turku, and soon became Yrjö Väisälä's as ...

in the 1940s, was named in her honour.

Awards

(1956) *

(1940) * Martin Kellogg Fellowship *

Award.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinter Hansen, Julie 1890 births 1960 deaths 20th-century Danish astronomers 20th-century Danish women scientists Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen University of California, Berkeley faculty Women astronomers Scientists from Copenhagen Danish women academics