Happy Birthday, Maria Mitchell
Born on this day in 1818, in Massachusetts, Mitchell became a self-educated astronomer. She became known for her discovery of a new comet, and she went on to study sunspots, moons, and “surface features” of Jupiter and Saturn.
(Obviously, I really mean that Mitchell studied the “features of the top layer of clouds of Jupiter and Saturn.”)
Mitchell was a professor at Vassar College and was the first woman to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
She said…
“We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire…”
“We especially need imagination in science.”
“Question everything.”
Read about Mitchell.
Read the book Maria’s Comet, by Deborah Hopkinson, or Rooftop Astronomer, by Stephanie McPherson.
Astronomy is fun!
- Make a comet using this recipe.
- Find puzzles and games on this website.