Digitization preserves recorded astronomical data On the panes of the Harvard Observatory. But preserving its cultural significance and honoring the women who deciphered it is another effort in its own right.
Lindsay Smith Zeroll, as Curator of the Observatory, focused on the important findings of “Women Computers” at Harvard University. How many of these women? Zerol identified regarding 200 by name, and another 160 by initials. Although she came to Harvard following digitization began, she helped ensure that a few hundred paintings were preserved without compromising their marks. This group was named following “Williamina Fleming”, one of the pioneers of astronomy at Harvard University; The plates of this group record the discoveries of other scientists, including:
• Henrietta Swan-Levitt, (Left of the image) who realized, when observing more than 2000 stars with their pulsating light, that the speed of change of those stars enables the measurement of their brightness and distance from Earth.
• Annie Jump Cannon, that used interstellar temperature differences to fundamentally change the classification system that astronomers still use.
Most of these women worked in secret, but, as Zerol, who no longer works at the observatory, says, “they were pioneers. Astrophysics would not have been what it is today without the work these women were doing.” – Liz Kreuse
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