This Day in Science History - July 19 - Edward Pickering

July 19th is Edward Pickering's birthday. Pickering was an American astronomer and director of the Harvard Observatory for 40 years. One of the more notable achievements of his tenure was the hiring of what became known as "Pickering's Angels". He became frustrated with the male assistants hired to aid him when he declared that even his maid could do a better job. He immediately put his maid, Willamina Fleming, to work classifying stars by their spectra and performing the mathematical drudge work involved. She did such an effective job that Pickering hired more women to continue the work and put Fleming in charge of them. Using a grant from the widow of Henry Draper, these women created the Henry Draper Catalog with over 10,000 stars classified by their spectra.

Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.

View the original article here