Dorrit Hoffleit

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Dorrit Hoffleit

| image = Dorrit-hoffleit.JPG

| image_size = 200px

| alt = Colour portrait photograph of Dorrit Hoffleit. A female scientist.

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|03|12}}

| birth_place = Florence, Alabama

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|04|09|1907|03|12}}

| death_place = New Haven, Connecticut

| resting_place =

| resting_place_coordinates =

| other_names = Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit

| nationality = American

| fields = Astronomy

| workplaces = Harvard College Observatory, Ballistic Research Laboratory, Harvard University, Yale University, Maria Mitchell Observatory

| alma_mater = Radcliffe College

| thesis_title = On the Spectroscopic Determination of Absolute Magnitudes, With Application to the Southern Stars of Types Later than A.

| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301768926/

| thesis_year = 1938

| doctoral_advisor = Bart Bok

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| known_for = Bright Star Catalog

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = Caroline Wilby Prize
George Van Biesbroeck Prize {{small|(1988)}}

}}

Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit (March 12, 1907 – April 9, 2007){{Cite web|url=http://www.aavso.org/memoriam-dorrit-hoffleit|title=In Memoriam: Dorrit Hoffleit |last1=Saladyga|first1=Michael|last2=Waagen|first2=Elizabeth|date=2010-05-02|website=www.aavso.org|language=en}} was an American senior research astronomer at Yale University. She is best known for her work in variable stars, astrometry, spectroscopy, meteors, and the Bright Star Catalog. She is also known for her mentorship of many young women and generations of astronomers.{{cite book

|author = Dorrit Hoffleit

|title = Misfortunes as Blessings in Disguise: The Story of My Life

|url = https://www.aavso.org/dorrit-hoffleit-autobiography-misfortunes-blessings-disguise

|publisher = American Association of Variable Star Observers

|isbn = 978-1-878174-48-2|year = 2002

}}

Life

Hoffleit's interest in astronomy began with the 1919 Perseid meteor shower that she saw with her mother.{{cite book

| last = Horch

| first = Elliott

| contribution = Hofflet, Ellen Dorrit

| year = 2007

| title = The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers

| editor-last = Hockey | editor-first = Thomas

| editor2-last = Trimble | editor2-first = Virginia

| editor3-last = Williams | editor3-first = Thomas R.

| publisher = Springer Publishing

| place = New York

| isbn = 978-0-387-30400-7

| bibcode=2007bea..book.....H

| doi = 10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_636

| title-link = Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers

| pages = 516–517

}} {{subscription required}} In 1928, she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in mathematics. She then went on to work for the Harvard College Observatory, searching for variable stars.{{cite journal|last=Hoffleit|first=Dorritt|title=New Variable Stars in MWF 175|journal=Bulletin of the Harvard College Observatory|year=1931|volume=884|issue=10|pages=10|bibcode=1931BHarO.884...10H}} In 1938, she was awarded a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301768926/ |title=On The Spectroscopic Determination Of Absolute Magnitudes, With Application to Southern Stars Of Types Later Than A |date=1938 |institution=Radcliffe College |degree=Ph.D. |last=Hoffleit |first=Ellen D. |id={{ProQuest|301768926}} |url-access=subscription}} and was subsequently hired, in 1948, as an astronomer at Harvard University. She remained at Harvard until 1956 when she moved to Yale University. She remained at Yale until retirement in 1975.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/nyregion/23hoffleit.html |first1=Jeremy |last1=Pearce |date=April 23, 2007 |title=Obituary: E. Dorrit Hoffleit, Scientist, Dies at 100 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 19, 2012}}

At Yale she followed in the footsteps of Ida Barney, taking over her astrometric work, and of whom she later wrote "To know [her] was a pleasure, inspiration, and privilege, both at work and socially."{{citation

| url = http://www.aas.org/cswa/status/status_june1990.pdf

| work = Status: The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy

| publisher = American Astronomical Society

| date = June 1990

| title = Ida M. Barney, Ace Astrometrist

| first1 = E. Dorrit

| last1 = Hoffleit

| author-link = Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit

| access-date = 17 November 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160405131725/http://www.aas.org/cswa/status/status_june1990.pdf

| archive-date = 5 April 2016

| url-status = dead

}} Hoffleit also served as director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory on Nantucket Island from 1957 to 1978, where she ran summer programs (May–October) for more than 100 students, many of whom went on to successful careers in astronomy. In her final years at Yale, Hoffleit taught basic courses in astronomy to undergraduates. Her passionate lectures in Davies Hall, usually with over 100 students, inspired and awed them.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} She engendered a lifelong interest in astronomy for young women and men, many of whom were just satisfying a prerequisite to their undergraduate degrees.

During the mid 1950s, Hoffleit consulted for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratories in "Doppler reductions".{{cite book

|title=Ballistic Research Laboratories

|publisher=Ordnance Corps, Department of the Army

|date=April 1955

}}

She was the main editor of the Yale Bright Star Catalogue. The Catalogue is a compendium of information on the 9,110 brightest stars in the sky. She also co-authored The General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes, containing precise distance measurements to 8,112 stars, information critical to understanding the kinematics of the Milky Way galaxy and the evolution of the solar neighborhood. With Harlan J. Smith, Hoffleit discovered the optical variability of the first-discovered quasar 3C 273.{{cite journal

|title = Light Variations in the Superluminous Radio Galaxy 3C273

|journal = Nature

|volume = 198

|pages = 650

|year = 1963

|author1=Smith, H. J. |author2= Hoffleit, D. |name-list-style=amp |doi = 10.1038/198650a0

|issue = 4881

|bibcode = 1963Natur.198..650S |s2cid = 4189751

}}

In 1988, Hoffleit was awarded the George Van Biesbroeck Prize by the American Astronomical Society for a lifetime of service to astronomy. On March 7-8, 1997, Yale University hosted a symposium in honor of Hoffleit's 90th birthday, dedicated to her nearly 70-year career.{{Cite book |last1=Philip |first1=A.G. Davis |url=https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=A66H502107759.25903&profile=rev-nbl&source=~!horizon&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100006~!30828~!0&ri=12&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=dorrit+hoffleit&index=.GW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=12 |title=Anni Mirabiles: A Symposium Celebrating the 90th Birthday of Dorrit Hoffleit |last2=van Altena |first2=William F. |last3=Upgren |first3=Arthur R. |publisher=L. Davis Press, Inc. |year=1999 |isbn=0933485239 |location=Schenectady}}

Hoffleit turned 100 on March 12, 2007, and died a month later from complications of cancer.{{Cite news

| title = Dorrit Hoffleit (1907 - 2007)

| newspaper = AAS Newsletter

| date = May–June 2007

}}

References

External links

[http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/science-health/dorrit-hoffleit Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit, member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080828133710/http://astrosociety.org/education/resources/womenast_bib02.html#3e Bibliography] from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00362 Papers, 1906–2005.] [http://radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Picture of Dorrit Hoffleit: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140116114142/http://www.astro.yale.edu/vlg8/images/dorrit.jpg.jpeg ]
[http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.1915 E. Dorrit Hoffleit Papers (MS 1915).] Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
Michael Saladyga and Elizabeth Waagen, [https://www.aavso.org/memoriam-dorrit-hoffleit In Memoriam: Dorrit Hoffleit], on aavso.org.