Name: Manjinder Kaur

Madonna Id: 234891

Course Name: Principles of Astronomy
Date:
Woman Astronomer: Annie Jump Cannon
The Reason why I chose Annie Jump Cannon as my topic was her lifetime work with
dedication to astronomy and her special interest towards promoting and encouraging female
students towards the field of astronomy. The contributions made by her in the field of astronomy
are remarkable. Annie Jump Cannon is the most important and well known woman astronomer
in the history. She made her most outstanding contribution to modern astronomy in the field of
stellar spectral classification. She invented the stellar classification scheme of spectral classes O,
B, A, F, G, K, M, and she gave her system a mnemonics of Oh Be a Fine Girl and Kiss Me as
a way to remember stellar classification. The major contributions made by her in the field of
astronomy cannot be ignored or forgotten. Her instrumental works admired me to take a look at
her life in a detail, which was created from three sources: inspiration, opportunity, abundant
work. The inspiration is found in her life story. She became the world's expert in classifying
stars. She assigned over a district million stars to their place in the great spectral catalog: the
Henry Draper Catalog. Her Harvard classifications are still used today. Annie Jump Cannon
classified around 400,000 or more spectrum classification and she was the first to complete such
classification of stars. Cannons work was theory based but a lot clear and simplified. Her
observation of stars and stellar spectra was extraordinary and phenomenal. Her career lasted
more than 40 years, during which time she classified more stars any other individual in history,

male or female. She determined and classified the spectra of more than 230,000 stars. She was
the first woman to be given an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Oxford (1925).
Annie Jump Cannon was the most prominent. She was born in Dover, Delaware on
December 11, 1863 and she died in 1941. The daughter of a shipbuilder and state senator Wilson
Lee Cannon and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Jump, Cannon grow up in Dover, Delaware.
Cannon's mother had a childhood curiosity in star-gazing, and she passed that curiosity along to
her daughter. She took physics and astronomy at Wellesley College and completed in 1884. In
1892 she moved to Europe to take photographs of the Solar Eclipse with her Blair Box Camera.
She became an professional in the new field of photography and traveled throughout the Europe
for taking pictures. Cannon's photos of the solar eclipse that she took in Europe in 1892 turned
out to be bigger than she imagined. After she returned home, her style and photos were published
in a pamphlet called "In the Footsteps of Columbus" by the Blair corporation and distributed as a
reminder at the Chicago Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893. In 1894 she returned back to
Wellesley for a year to precede her studies in astronomy, and in 1895 she got commissioned at
Radcliffe in order to continue her studies under Edward C. Pickering, who was the director of the
Harvard College Observatory. She became an expert in the new field of photography and
traveled throughout Europe taking pictures. In 1896 she took part in the first x-ray study in this
country and she went to Harvard College Observatory. She became the world's specialist in
classifying the stars. She is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme,
which was the first serious effort to arrange and classify stars based on their temperatures.
The scheme of spectral classification by surface temperature used for the project and later
in 1910 got universally adopted and was a large work that Cannon had developed from earlier
systems. She ultimately obtained and classified spectra for more than 225,000 stars. Her work

was available in nine volumes as the Henry Draper Catalogue. In sort to gain access to a
improved telescope, Cannon went at Radcliffe College as a "special student", proceeding her
studies of astronomy. Radcliffe was apparatus near Harvard College for Harvard professors to
repetition their lectures to the young Radcliffe women who was studying astronomy. In
1896, Edward C. Pickering hired her as his assistant at the Observatory and by 1907; Cannon
finished her studies and received a M.A. from Wellesley. In 1911 Cannon succeeded Fleming as
an administrator of astronomical photographs at the observatory, and in 1938 she got named as
William Cranch Bond Professor of Astronomy. After 1924 she completed her work, classifying
tens of thousands of additional stars down to the 11th magnitude for the volume-two Henry
Draper Extension.
Among the several honors and awards that were accorded to her was the first honorary
doctorate from the University of Oxford to be awarded to a woman in 1925. In 1929, she was
listed as one of twelve "greatest living women" from the National League of Women Voters. The
Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1931. She was the first woman to
become an officer in the American Astronomical Society. In 1933 she recognized that
organizations Annie J. Cannon Award, which is devoted to a North American female
astronomer for her well-known input to astronomy. She was the fellow member of Royal
Astronomical Society in Europe.
Annie Jump Cannon was different from other woman astronomers when taken into
comparison. Maria Mitchell is also very important just for being the first American woman
astronomer but she did not have the opportunities to make the contributions that of Annie
Cannon. Cecilia Payne made very important significant contributions but not to the same extent
as Annie Cannon. Annie Jump Cannon notable words were: Classifying the stars has helped

materially in all studies of the structure of the universe. No greater problem is presented to the
human mind. Teaching man his relatively small sphere in the creation, it also encourages him by
its lessons of the unity of Nature and shows him that his power of comprehension allies him with
the great intelligence over-reaching all. This is what makes us learn and approve about her
importance in the history of astronomy and her unforgettable contributions that leaves an
example of commitment and her dedication to work, for future astronomers and researchers in
the field of astronomy. Caroline Herschel was an important part of one of the most important
families of astronomers but when we compare the timelessness of her contributions with Annie
Cannon, we still consider Cannon the greater. Annie Jump Cannon's career in astronomy lasted
for more than 40 years, until her retirement in 1940. During this time, Cannon helped women
gain recognition and respect within the scientific society. Her hardworking attitude and behavior
helped her gain respect throughout her lifetime and covered the path for future women
astronomers. Cannon died on April 13, 1941, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the age of 77.
The American Association of University Women presents the Annie J. Cannon Award yearly to
female astronomers for renowned work in astronomy.
Reference
www.sdsc.edu
www.astr.ua.edu
www.adsabs.harvard.edu
www.womenastronomer.com
www.sheisanastronomer.org
www.academics.wellesley.edu