Quiet Heroes of Science
For my first Extension I have chosen to research about a woman named Annie Jump Cannon. She was a renowned astronomer who lived from 1863-1941. She was a true pioneer for women everywhere and greatly contributed to the field of astronomy. This is an essay about her accomplishments as a Quiet Hero of Science.
Annie Jump Cannon was born in Dover Delaware on December 11, 1863. As a young child and throughout her life she was not able to hear as well as other people. Despite this, she led a relatively normal life. She discovered her interest in astronomy at a very young age when her mother taught her the constellations. She pursued these interests at Wellesley College where she studied physics, astronomy, and even how to make spectroscopic measurements. After graduating from Wellesley, she returned home. Also, unknown to most, she was an expert in the new field of photography. She loved to travel so she went to Spain with her new box camera and took pictures. Later, when she returned home, she put all of her photos into an album. This was then published and titled “In the Footsteps of Columbus.”
By this time you might be a little confused. “Isn’t this paper supposed to be about an Astronomer and not a photographer.” Well, you are correct. I was just giving some background information. Any ways, by this time Annie was beginning to grow unsatisfied with the way her life was turning out. She had started off wanting to be an astronomer but instead she was being recognized as a photographer. So after her mother died in 1894, Annie returned to Wellesley as an assistant to the physics department and became a special student of astronomy at Radcliffe. In 1896 she was part of America’s first x-ray experimen...
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... is “Responding with Wonderment and Awe.” I say this because I cannot imagine why a person would spend their entire life devoted to recording the data of stars inless they truly love their proffession. This means that Annie must have really enjoyed recording stars. If she did not enjoyed recording data from stars, she would have surely quit long before her proffession took off.
What impressed me about this particular scientist was her sheer dedication to her field of study. I mean, she was only getting paid 50 cents an hour to do gruelling mind work. That is just mind boggling to me. Also, it is truly amazing how many awards she won and things she accomplished during her lifetime. Especially since she was working at a time when women were considered a minority. Overall, this was just a truly amazing woman and I am glad I had the opportunity to research about her.
It was not until a trip to Japan with her mother after her sophomore year of studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute that Annie Leibovitz discovered her interest in taking photographs. In 1970 Leibovitz went to the founding editor of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, who was impressed by Leibovitz’s work. Leibovitz’s first assignment from Wenner was to shoot John Lennon. Leibovitz’s black-and-white portrait of Lennon was the cover of the January 21, 1971 issue. Ironically, Leibovitz would be the last person to capture her first celebrity subject. Two years later she made history by being named Rolling Stone’s first female chief photographer. Leibovitz’s intimate photographs of celebrities had a big part in defining the Rolling Stone look. In 1983 Leibovitz joined Vanity Fair and was made the magazine’s first contributing photographer. At Vanity Fair she became known for her intensely lit, staged, and alluring portraits of celebrities. With a broader range of subjects available at Vanity Fair, Leibovitz’s photographs for Vanity Fair ranged from presidents to literary icons to t...
Many women scientist upheld and defended their positions as learned, scientific individuals. Marie Meurdrac, a French scientist, in a foreword to a publication stated clearly that women’s and men’s minds, if thought in the same manner would hold no difference.(Doc 2) Similarly, Dorothea Erxleben understood and explained why men and women alike look down on her for studying science because they feel that it is an insult.(Doc 9) Her experiences as a female scientist led her to truly grasp why her persecutors acted as they did towards her although this document shows no signs that she thinks the same. Maria Sibylla Merian, a German entomologist, discussed some of her scientific practices that encompass her dedication and fascination with science.(Doc 5) Another example of this whole-hearted dedication comes from Marquis...
The person that I chose for the Womens History Month report is Maria Mitchell, who was a self- taught astronomer. She discovered Comet Mitchell and made amazing achievements throughout her life. Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818 on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket to William and Lydia Mitchell. When Maria Mitchell was growing up in the Quaker community, few girls were allowed to study astronomy and higher mathematics. Even though the Mitchell's weren't rich Maria's father, a devoted amateur( most astronomers of that time were amateurs) astronomer, introduced her to mathematics and the night sky. He also encouraged her toward teaching and passed on a sense of God as in the natural world. By the time Maria was sixteen, she was a teacher of mathematics at Cyrus Pierce's school for young ladies where she used to be a student. Following that she opened a grammar school of her own. And only a year after that, at the age of eighteen she was offered a job as a librarian at Nantucket's Atheneum during the day when it opened to the public in the fall of 1836. At the Atheneum she taught herself astronomy by reading books on mathematics and science. At night she regularly studied the sky through her father's telesscope. For her college education even Harvard couldn't have given her a better education than she received at home and at that time astronomy in America was very behind as of today. She kept studying at the Atheneum, discussed astronomy with scientists who visited Nantucket (including William C. Bond), and kept studying the sky through her father's lent telescope.
Copernicus’ Secret is a biography of an astronomer and a cleric who established that the earth was never the center of the cosmos. The author, Jack Repcheck, explores the action-packed last 12 years of Copernicus’s life that altered the track of western history. The main aim of the author is to give a precise in-depth human explanation of the events that led to the scientific revolution. He also tries to bring this scientific genius to life in a manner, which has never been achieved in the past. In addition, the author also tries to reveal some of the little known weak character traits of Copernicus at the time of his major theories.
July 24, 1897, a belligerent war against the norm of society is interrupted by the birth of one Amelia Earhart. From the time of her birth in Atchison, Kansas, to her disappearance in the Pacific Ocean at the age of 39, Amelia Earhart was venerated as a beacon of hope for women aviators around the world. She is recognized as the first woman aviator to set multiple records and some acclaim that Amelia Earhart is “perhaps the most effective activist of her time.” Acting upon a simple yearn for flight, Amelia Earhart managed to alter the public view on women as workers as a whole, and provided a hero during the ubiquitous devastation caused by the Great Depression.
Annie Leibovitz is one of the best portrait photographers in this modern age. Her works focus on varied subjects but hover more among celebrity portraits. Apart from these, her photographs depict visual stories that affect audience's emotions. The diversity and life of her photographs create visual artistic realms that touch the soul.
One of them was when she gave the same lesson on minerals to a group of elementary school children as she did to Harvard Graduates. The results were astounding. The children completed it faster and with better results than the college educated adults, because they trusted their own judgement more. She also, while in the middle of an earthquake, picked up a pen and started writing how far the picture flew from the wall, which way the lamp fell, how many pieces the mirror broke into, and so on. She then sealed the findings up and sent them to “A leading authority on seismic disturbances.” She kept working until the time of her
Annie was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and spent most of her childhood in military bases, because her father had a career as an officer in the AIR FORCE. Growing up one of six, her father was circulating everywhere. Annie’s mother, was a stay at home mom, a wife, and a teacher. If she ever talked clamorously or if she was eager, she claimed it was because of her extensive and uproarious family foundation. She took classes at night to study the art of painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. In 1970, her distinctive portraits started showing in Rolling Stone magazine, and have been ever since (“Annie Leibovitz a photographers life1990-2005”). Annie Leibovitz is one of Americas’ most well known celebrity portrait photographer for her work in Rolling Stone magazine and her work in Vanity Fair.
Born to Nettie Lee Smith and Bill Smith on December 18, 1918 in Wichita, Kansas was William Eugene Smith, who would later revolutionize photography. His mother Nettie was into photography, taking photos of her family, especially her two sons as they grew up, photographing events of their lives (Hughes 2). Photography had been a part of Smith’s life since he was young. At first it started out always being photographed by his mother, and then turned into taking photographs along with his friend Pete, as he got older. They often practiced developing photos in Nettie’s kitchen, and he later began to create albums with his photographs. His photographs diff...
For my scientist of the year report I have chosen Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 in Bristol located in the United Kingdom. I had chosen Blackwell because I am very supportive of women and how they have that men are not superior sex. She is an inspiration to all women because she was the first woman to a receive a medical degree showing that women can succeed and work in the medical field.
One of the things that make her such a good role model for young women is the fact that she herself comes from a humble background. She was born and raised on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx and she was the youngest daughter in a family of four. Her parents and older sibling were all well educated with her father working as a accountant and her mother and older sister having majored in mathematics while in school. Perhaps this is the reason why she herself chose to pursue mathematics as a career choice (The Poster Project Biographies). Having made up her mind to study mathematics the next step that she was forced to take was choosing a college to attend. This was difficult because at the time there were very few women mathematicians that she could look at as examples and try to emulate.
Rosalind Franklin: Seeing a woman as a scientist during this time is somewhat rare, so the fact that she has taken up this profession show that she is persistent, dedicated, and smart. The only problem is that she is undervalued because of her gender. She is also very quiet and reserved because she’s in a different country.
Pollack, Eileen. “Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
When most people think of the Scientific Revolution, they think of scientists such as Galileo, Newton, Brahe, and Boyle. However, many people do not even know about the many women who played a vital role in the scientific advancements of this period. Even when these women were alive, most of society either ignored them or publicly disapproved their unladylike behavior. Because of this, these women were often forgotten from history, and very little is known about the majority of them. Although their names rarely appear in history books, the female scientists of the Scientific Revolution still impacted the world of science in several ways. In fact, all of the scientists listed above had a woman playing an influential role assisting them in their research. However, assisting men in their studies was not the only role open to women; several women performed experimentation and research on their own, or advancing science in some other way, even though the society of the time looked down upon and even resisted their studies.
... the first photographers to be able to take photos at night and he showed the public of the interiors of homes and factories in order to show vividly the living and working conditions of New York’s poor. He would then publicize the pictures in order to show the world what was going on in these parts of the country. Until the end of his life he continued to write and lecture about the conditions of America’s poor.