Nancy Grace Roman was born on May 16, 1925 in Nashville, Tennessee to Georgia and Irwin Roman. ("Roman, Nancy," 2012/2012, p. 339) She often remarks that her parents were generally supportive of her career choices, despite of the time’s expectations for women. Doctor Roman has always had an interest, even as a young child, in science and astronomy, and it followed her throughout her life. Between the fifth and sixth grades, she organized her friends into a summer astronomy club that met weekly to learn about constellations. (Roman, 2013, p. 1) Later, in the seventh grade, she read every book on astronomy in the Baltimore City Library, and decided that astronomy would be her chosen career path.
Throughout her secondary education, Roman often
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Nancy Grace Roman has researched fascinating phenomena, made amazing discoveries, and started several projects that have changed the way the field of astronomy works. In 1955 as one of her first major research projects, Dr. Roman was part of a team that documented new “spectral types photoelectric magnitudes and colors and spectroscopic parallaxes for about 600 high-velocity stars.” (Roman, 1955, p. 195) Dr. Nancy Grace Roman was also the one who discovered that stars similar to the earth’s sun demonstrated subtle differences from other stars in the same class. (Roman, 2013, p. 2) This discovery led into her research in radio astronomy, where she also determined that Sagittarius A was a composite source instead of the galactic center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Dr. Roman did this by comparing her own measurements of the galactic center region that she acquired using radar with her colleague’s measurements, that he obtained using a shorter wavelength. (Roman, 2013, p. 3) But perhaps Dr. Roman’s greatest known accomplishment as an astronomer is her work with the Hubble Telescope project. During her time at NASA, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman was in charge of the early planning and development of the Hubble Telescope. (Roman, n.d.) Roman also created the program structure for the project, as well as convince Congress to approve of the program and its funding. (Roman, …show more content…
Nancy Grace Roman had a great impact on not just astronomy, but all fields of science. This impact is not felt only through her research in the field of astronomy, but also because of the positions she held and the responsibilities Dr. Roman carried out through those positions. Dr. Nancy Grace Roman is best known as the “mother of the Hubble Telescope”. (Eriksen, 2016) Without her set up of the program, as well as Dr. Roman’s advocating for the project’s funding in congress, the Hubble Telescope as we know it today might not exist. This technology has greatly deepened modern understanding of space, and “that for the price of a night at the movies every taxpayer would receive fifteen years of exciting scientific results.” (Roman, 2000) Because of Dr. Roman’s influence, the Hubble Telescope has allowed astronomers to conduct research and investigate the universe on a scale that just would not be possible without it.In addition to the Hubble Telescope, her discovery of the differences in stars gave insight into the development of the Milky Way Galaxy ("Roman, Nancy," 2012/2012, p. 339) Through Dr. Nancy Grace Roman’s research on this subject, we discovered that stars “spew out” elements heavier than helium, hydrogen, and lithium as time goes on, therefore, that stars with more of these “heavy” elements are younger than those that lack them. (Roman, 2013, p.
place in society as the astronomer, for she does the "dirty" work to free people
Boyle, Kay. "Astronomer's Wife." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 619-623.
Since Maria was known to the public as the discoverer of the Comet, she was role model to many women in science. The people who thought women were not capable of studying mathematics and science were proven wrong because of Maria Mitchell. Maria then started focusing heavily on educating women, opposing slavery and advocating for women’s rights. Marias belief was that women wasted time on sewing rather than pursuing intellectual activities. Many women considered astronomy as a career because of Marias patience and self-control.
2, Alter Dinsmore, Cleminshaw H. Clarence, Philips G John. Pictorial Astronomy. United States: Sidney Feinberg, 1963.
The Orion Nebula is a spectacular sight. Consequently, it has been a preferred target of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) over recent years. The HST has provided a great deal of insight into the complicated process of star formation. In June of 1994, C.
One of the strongest women scientist/astronomer was born in 1818 as Maria Mitchell whom led an unbelievable life and had an incredible discovery. Maria Mitchell was born when women were not given the opportunity to vote nor did women have the same equal rights as men did, but given her circumstances of her father being a principal, founding his own school and being a distant family member of Benjamin Franklin she was given the same rights as the men did. Given a few obstacles she led an extraordinary life and became the first woman in America to work as an astronomer professionally, which she than later received an award personally from King Frederick VII, for her work and discovery.
For a long time, women’s potential in Science was little to none. However, over the years, it has now changed because of the outstanding breakthroughs and encouraging accomplishments women have done through the years. It is because of them, women’s potential in Science and other realms of studies has now evolved with more understandings and discoveries. It is for the reason of Maria Mitchell, one of the first female astronomers to be recognized in Science, that women’s potential were essentially respected. Her discoveries during her time as a student, a teacher, and an astronomer paved the way for many others, not just in Science, but also for woman’s rights and potential to be seen.
University of Alabama, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 4,000 Years of Women in Science. Dec. 2002 2 Nov. 2003 http://crux.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/newintro.html.
One of the most notable contributors to the field of astronomy, never actually worked a telescope. The unjust discrimination against women barred one of the most brilliant astronomers of the 20th century from ever actually viewing the stars she was studying. This did not pose a problem however, as Henrietta Swan Leavitt challenged these notions of female inferiority and ineptitude by entering the predominately male field of astrology and excelling. Henrietta Leavitt's prodigious discovery of the period-luminosity relationship amongst Cepheid variable stars would forever change the way we perceive the universe and known galaxies as well as lay the foundation for astronomers such as Harlow Shapley, Hertzsprung, and Edwin Hubble to expand our knowledge of the universe.
Had useful information relaing to Christina of Sweden and the use of her observatory for astrological purposes.
NASA had originally wanted to launch the Hubble in 1983 but because of multiple program problems it was delayed. The Hubble’s imagining mirror was completed in 1981 but the rest of the optical assembly was not finished until 1984. Finally in December of ...
Human fascination with the stars is as ancient as Babylonians and has been suggested to be older than Stonehenge. From “be fruitful and multiply” to “live long and prosper,” the instinct to protect and propagate the species has manifested in religion, art, and the imaginations of countless individuals. As human understanding of space treks out of the fantastical and into the scientific, the realities of traveling through and living in space are becoming clearer. Exploring, investigating, and living in space pose an expansive series of problems. However, the solutions to the problems faced by mankind's desire to reach beyond the horizon, through the night sky, and into the stars are solutions that will help in all areas of life on Earth.
Tyler, Pat. Supernova. NASA’s Heasarc: Education and Public Information. 26 Jan. 2003. 22 Nov. 2004
The first person to ever observe the Milky Way was Greek philosopher, Democritus, who said the galaxy may consist of distant stars. In 1610, Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study the Milky Way and came to the conclusion that it was composed of billions and billions of faint stars. Then, in 1750, Thomas Wright c...
In Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella "Sonnet 1," there is an observable poetic structure that can be analyzed on a literal as well as a figurative level in an attempt to gain a logical understanding of the poem. Sidney's style of writing appears to be easily interpreted on a literal level, yet there is a deeper and more complex dimension of figurative elements, such as metaphors, that require further exploration and examination to unveil their complete meaning. In addition, this sonnet encompasses complex speech that must be interpreted through its underlying meaning and not what it appears to be on the surface.