Since Hypatia of Alexandria , who designed an astrolabe and used it to chart the position of the stars in the sky, many women have set the path of the stars.
Hypatia remains one of the earliest known astronomers, but we cannot forget Aglaonicia of Thessaly , Greece, considered the first female astronomer in ancient Greece to focus her studies on the cyclical patterns of the moon; to Queen Seondeok of Silla (South Korea), who was instrumental in the construction of the 9.4-meter-high Cheomseongdae Observatory (“stargazing tower”), being the oldest such structure in Asia- ; Sophia Brahe , who raised as a Danish noblewoman because her father acted as an advisor to the King of Denmark, helped her brother, Tycho Brahe, with his observations of the stars and also create what would serve as the basis for current predictions of the stars planetary orbits. As Sophia was noble, her family expressed their disdain for her interest in science, so she invested her own money translating German and Latin texts in order to continue her studies in astronomy. He also studied horticulture and became interested in medicine and chemistry. Tycho and Sophia jointly discovered a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia, which was named “Nova Stella”.
After them would come Wang Zhenyi, Chinese astronomer, mathematician and author of texts on the cosmos, including “On the Processions of the Equinoxes”, “On the longitude and the stars”, “On the explanation of lunar eclipses” or “The explanation of the Solar eclipse ”that, in a self-taught way, studied medicine, mathematics and geography, as well as astronomy. One of his most prominent experiments was to create a model of the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon (which he made using everyday items such as a table and a mirror) to visually help people understand how eclipses worked.
Maria Mitchell , who was the first American woman astronomer to discover a comet in 1847, something that made her a celebrity overnight and led to her final choice as part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the only woman who held a position at the academy until 1943. It should also be remembered that when she discovered that her male colleagues were making more money than her, she asked for an equal salary, and she got it. An asteroid, Mitchella from 1455, and a crater on the Moon (Mitchell) were named to remember her.
Thanks also to the ‘Harvard Computers’, through Katherine Johnson, Nancy Roman, Hubble’s mother, Valerie Thomas or Margaret Hamilton … with all these contributions we address the women who have been in space.
