Barbara Bell (astronomer)

Bell was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of George Irving Bell and Hazel Seerley Bell.{{Cite news|date=1979-01-17|title=Hazel Bell, 94, Active in Voters' League|pages=16|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91203151/hazel-bell-94-active-in-voters-league/|access-date=2021-12-27|via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1944, then earned a PhD in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1951.{{Cite journal|last=Hirshfeld|first=Alan|date=2017-12-01|title=Barbara Bell (1922–2017)|url=https://baas.aas.org/pub/barbara-bell-1922-2017/release/1|journal=Bulletin of the AAS|language=en|volume=49|issue=1}}"Barbara Bell" American Men & Women of Science : A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences. 2013, v. 1, p588-588 Her dissertation, "A study of Doppler and damping effects in the solar atmosphere", was supervised by Donald Menzel,{{Cite book|last=Bell|first=Barbara|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001991043|title=A study of Doppler and damping effects in the solar atmosphere. Published under AMC contract W19-122ac-17 for the establishment of a solar observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico.|date=1951|series=Harvard University. Special report no. 35|location=Cambridge, Mass.}} and won the Caroline Wilby Prize in 1951.{{Cite news|date=1951-06-20|title=Conant Declares Inflation Threat to Education|pages=3|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91087445/conant-declares-inflation-threat-to/|access-date=2021-12-26|via=Newspapers.com}} Her younger brother George Irving Bell Jr. was a biophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.{{Cite news|last=Saxon|first=Wolfgang|date=2000-06-18|title=George Irving Bell, 73, Leader In Studies of Human Genome|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/18/us/george-irving-bell-73-leader-in-studies-of-human-genome.html|access-date=2021-12-27|issn=0362-4331}}

Bell was said to have a sharp and curious mind, with a kind heart and cheerful disposition, especially towards her niece, Carolyn S. Bell.{{Cite web |title=BARBARA BELL Obituary (1922 - 2017) - Legacy Remembers |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/barbara-bell-obituary?id=11508229 |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=Legacy.com}}

File:Harvard-Observatory-1899.jpg

Bell was an astronomer affiliated with Harvard College Observatory and the Center for Astrophysics {{!}} Harvard & Smithsonian for over fifty years between 1948 and the 1990s{{Cite web |title=Barbara Bell |url=https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/barbara-bell |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=library.cfa.harvard.edu |language=en}} working mainly on sunspots,{{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1958|title=Sunspots and geomagnetism|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.2-8.161|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=2|issue=8|pages=161–179|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.2-8.161|bibcode=1958SCoA....2..161B|issn=0081-0231}}{{Cite news|date=1959-06-04|title=16-year Study of Sunspots Evaluated|pages=39|work=The Wichita Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91215583/16-year-study-of-sunspots-evaluated/|access-date=2021-12-27|via=Newspapers.com}} geomagnetic storms,{{Cite web |title=Barbara Bell - Monday, September 25th, 2017 |url=https://www.keefefuneralhome.com/memorials/Bell-Barbara/3171233/obituary.php |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.keefefuneralhome.com |language=en}} and other solar phenomena.{{Cite book|last1=Bell|first1=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2boBHQAACAAJ&q=Barbara+Bell+Harvard|title=Research Directed Toward the Observation and Interpretation of Solar Phenomena|last2=DeMastus|first2=Howard L.|last3=Menzel|first3=Donald Howard|date=1968|publisher=Harvard University, Solar Department of Harvard College Observatory|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=1952-05-25|title=Sun Energy Changes Brought Ice Ages|pages=39|work=Tampa Bay Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91215879/sun-energy-changes-brought-ice-ages/|access-date=2021-12-27|via=Newspapers.com}} She served on various committees of the International Astronomical Union.{{Cite web|title=International Astronomical Union {{!}} IAU|url=https://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/3011/|access-date=2021-12-26|website=International Astronomical Union}}

Bell also researched and wrote on the climate history of ancient Egypt;{{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1970|title=The Oldest Records of the Nile Floods|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1796184|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=136|issue=4|pages=569–573|doi=10.2307/1796184|jstor=1796184|issn=0016-7398}}{{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1975-07-01|title=Climate and the History of Egypt: The Middle Kingdom|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/503481|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=79|issue=3|pages=223–269|doi=10.2307/503481|jstor=503481|s2cid=192999731|issn=0002-9114}} she is credited with being the first to explore climate change as a cause of famine and civil breakdown known as "The First Dark Age in Egypt", using records of the Nile's annual flood levels.{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Laurence C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80OhDwAAQBAJ&dq=Barbara+Bell+Harvard&pg=PT14|title=Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World|date=2020-04-21|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-41198-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Thurston|first=Harry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DeCDwAAQBAJ&dq=Barbara+Bell+Harvard&pg=PT223|title=Secrets of the Sands: The Revelations of Egypt|date=2012-12-18|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-61145-848-0|language=en}} This research was published as a series of journal articles and has been used extensively in archeological literature.

• "Geomagnetism and the Emission-Line Corona" (1957, with Harold Glazer){{Cite journal|last1=Bell|first1=Barbara|last2=Glazer|first2=Harold|date=1957|title=Geomagnetism and the emission-line corona, 1950-1953|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.2-5.51|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=2|issue=5|pages=51–107|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.2-5.51|bibcode=1957SCoA....2...51B|issn=0081-0231}}
• "Sunspots and Geomagnetism" (1958)
• "Some Sunspot and Flare Statistics" (1958, with Harold Glazer){{Cite journal|last1=Bell|first1=Barbara|last2=Glazer|first2=Harold G.|date=1958|title=Some sunspot and flare statistics|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.3-4.25|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=3|issue=4|pages=25–38|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.3-4.25|issn=0081-0231}}
• "The Doppler widths of solar absorption lines" (1959, with Alan Meltzer){{Cite journal|last1=Bell|first1=Barbara|last2=Meltzer|first2=Alan|date=1959|title=The Doppler widths of solar absorption lines|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.3-5.39|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=3|issue=5|pages=39–46|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.3-5.39|bibcode=1959SCoA....3...39B|issn=0081-0231}}
• "On the Magnetic Field Strengths of Sunspots" (1959){{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1959|title=On the Magnetic Field Strengths of Sunspots|journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific|volume=71|issue=419|pages=165–167|doi=10.1086/127355|jstor=40676878|bibcode=1959PASP...71..165B|s2cid=120834649 |issn=0004-6280|doi-access=free}}
• "On the Structure of the Sunspot Zone" (1960){{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1960|title=On the structure of the sunspot zone|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.5-3.17|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=5|issue=3|pages=17–28|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.5-3.17|bibcode=1960SCoA....5...17B|issn=0081-0231}}
• "Major Flares and Geomagnetic Activity" (1961){{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1961|title=Major flares and geomagnetic activity|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.5-7.69|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=5|issue=7|pages=69–83|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.5-7.69|bibcode=1961SCoA....5...69B|issn=0081-0231}}
• "A long-term North-South asymmetry in the location of solar sources of great geomagnetic storms" (1962){{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1961|title=A North-South Asymmetry in Location of Solar Sources of Great Geomagnetic Storms.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/108483|journal=The Astronomical Journal|volume=66|pages=38|doi=10.1086/108483|bibcode=1961AJ.....66Q..38B|issn=0004-6256}}
• "Solar radio bursts of spectral types II and IV: their relations to optical phenomena and to geomagnetic activity" (1963){{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Barbara|date=1963|title=Solar radio bursts of spectral types II and IV: their relations to optical phenomena and to geomagnetic activity|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810231.5-15.239|journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics|volume=5|issue=15|pages=239–257|doi=10.5479/si.00810231.5-15.239|bibcode=1963SCoA....5..239B|issn=0081-0231}}
• "Lunar eclipses and the forecasting of solar minima" (1965, with John G. Wolbach)
• "Dependence of the lunar modulation of geomagnetic activity on the celestial latitude of the Moon" (1966, with Richard J. Defouw){{Cite journal|last1=Bell|first1=Barbara|last2=Defouw|first2=Richard J.|date=1966-02-01|title=Dependence of the lunar modulation of geomagnetic activity on the celestial latitude of the Moon|url=https://doi.org/10.1029/JZ071i003p00951|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research|volume=71|issue=3|pages=951–957|doi=10.1029/jz071i003p00951|bibcode=1966JGR....71..951B|issn=0148-0227}}
• "Research Directed Toward the Observation and Interpretation of Solar Phenomena" (1968, with Howard L. DeMastus and Donald Menzel)

• "Solar variation as an explanation of climate change" (1953){{Citation|last=Bell|first=Barbara|title=8. Solar Variation as an Explanation of Climate Change|date=1953-12-31|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674367166.c8|work=Climatic Change|pages=123–136|publisher=Harvard University Press|doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674367166.c8|isbn=9780674367159|access-date=2021-12-26}}
• "The Oldest Records of the Nile Floods" (1970)
• "The Dark Ages in History. I. The First Dark Age in Egypt" (1971)Bell, Barbara. [http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/pubdocs/495/full/ "The Dark Ages in History. I. The First Dark Age in Egypt"] American Journal of Archaeology 75 (1971), pp. 1-26.
• "Climate and the History of Egypt: The Middle Kingdom" (1975)
• "Analysis of Viticultural Data by Cumulative Deviations" (2014){{Cite book|last1=Rotberg|first1=Robert I.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7P_AwAAQBAJ&dq=Barbara+Bell+astronomer&pg=PA271|title=Climate and History: Studies in Interdisciplinary History|last2=Rabb|first2=Theodore K.|last3=Bell|first3=Barbara|date=2014-07-14|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-5410-3|language=en|chapter="Analysis of Viticultural Data by Cumulative Deviations"}}

Bell, who was loved by all who knew her,{{Cite web |title=BARBARA BELL Obituary (1922 - 2017) - Cambridge, MA - Boston Globe |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/barbara-bell-obituary?id=11508229&fhid=10107 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Legacy.com}} died in 2017, aged 95 years. Following her wishes, Barbara was laid to rest next to her parents in Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, IL. The Barbara Bell Professor of Egyptology position at Harvard was named in her honor.

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Category:1922 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:American women scientists

Category:21st-century American astronomers

Category:20th-century American astronomers

Category:American women astronomers

Category:People from Evanston, Illinois

Category:Radcliffe College alumni

Category:Harvard College Observatory people

Category:Climate history