In Cambridge, in Mount Auburn Cemetery, is the tablet for Williamina Paton Fleming, who worked at the Harvard College Observatory as a human computer, and developed the star cataloging system that is the basis for the one used to this day.
Mount Auburn Cemetery is located on the east end of Watertown and on the west edge of Cambridge. The entrance is off Mount Auburn Street. The best thing to do is that to do your research ahead of time to find this location - the cemetery is large and there are many roads. In particular, This segment of road is labeled Magnolia Avenue on a sign nearby, but it is sometimes listed as a disconnected segment of Maple Avenue. This grave is by a pump house, near a branch of Larch Avenue.
The marker is a tablet set at ground level. It is White in color and is next to a marker for William Warren Garret. The marker is also right by the road. On the face of the marker is the following:
"Williamina Paton Fleming
Astronomer
Born May 15, 1857
Died May 21, 1911"
Williamina Fleming is a figure who is internationally known, yet should be better known. She was born in Scotland, and moved with her husband to America. When she was pregnant, her husband left her. She became a housekeeper for Edward Pickering, who was a professor and Director of the Harvard College University.
The web page for the Harvard University Open Collections Website states that, one time, "irritated by the poor work done by his male employees at the observatory, Pickering reportedly declared that his maid could do a better job, and shortly thereafter, in 1881, he hired Fleming to do some clerical work and mathematical calculations at the Observatory.
Fleming quickly proved Pickering right by developing a new system to classify stars according to their spectra, or the unique pattern of lines caused by the refraction of a star's light through a prism. Thanks to her new classification system, which became known as the "Pickering-Fleming System," Fleming cataloged over 10,000 stars within the next nine years.
Pickering eventually put Fleming in charge of editing all studies published by the Harvard Observatory and allowed her to hire dozens of young women to support her expanding stellar exploration efforts. One of these young women was Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who later discovered how to measure the universe. In 1898, the Harvard Corporation appointed Fleming to be the curator of astronomical photographs at the Harvard College Observatory, making her the first woman to hold this important position.
During the course of her career, Fleming discovered 10 novae, 52 nebulae, and 310 variable stars—a remarkable achievement for someone without a formal education in astronomy. Recognizing her contributions to the discipline, in 1906 the Royal Astronomical Society elected Fleming to its organization, the first time that prestigious body admitted an American woman. In 1910, she reached the pinnacle of her career by discovering white dwarfs, which are very hot and dense stars that are white in color."
She is also credited with discovering the Horsehead nebula in the constellation of Orion.
Her story is featured in the book, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars, by Dava Sobel.
Sources:
Harvard University Open Collections Program (Wiliamina Paton Stevens Fleming):
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visit link)
Wikipedia (Williamina Fleming):
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visit link)
Amazon.com (The Glass Universe):
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visit link)