Leah Allen

She attended [[Hope High School (Rhode Island)|

Hope High School]], graduating in 1903. She then studied at Pembroke College in Brown University, 1904–1906, where she did special work in astronomy under Professor Winslow Upton, director of Ladd Observatory. Allen joined Lick Observatory as Carnegie Assistant in 1908 after a recommendation by Upton. She received her M.A. from Wellesley College in 1912. Her thesis was a spectroscopic study of the star Eta Centauri. Allen participated in Lick Observatory's Crocker expedition to view the total solar eclipse of June 8, 1918 at Goldendale, Washington. She was an assistant professor of astronomy at Wellesly, along with Lois Tripp Slocum, in the early 1920s. She was affiliated with the Whitin Observatory at Wellesley. Allen began teaching astronomy at Hood in 1928.http://www.hood.edu/adminservices/news.cfm?featureID=2031{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She was director of the John H. Williams Observatory at Hood. She gave lectures at amateur astronomy groups. She retired from teaching in 1955.

Allen was the daughter of Samuel F. Allen, who had been described as a "veteran balloonist." Her mother was Abby L. Allen.

She enjoyed sailing from the time that she was in college. Her sister considered her an expert at handling her sailboat in inclement weather.

She became active in the women's suffrage movement after reading a speech by her sister, called “Why Women Should Be Given the Vote.” She was an advocate of voting rights and played a role in earning women the right to vote in Rhode Island.

The following prizes are named in her honor:

• Leah B. Allen Award for Excellence in Math and Science, Hood College
• Leah B. Allen Prize in Astronomy, Hood College

Allen was a member of the following societies:

• American Astronomical Society
• American Association of Variable Star Observers, Charter Member

• Annie Jump Cannon
• William F. Meggers

• {{cite archive |first=Leah B. |last=Allen |item=Study of η Centauri |item-url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1911phae.proj..686A/0000686.006.html |type=Manuscript |item-id=KG11365.685 |date=1911 |page= |pages=1–50 |fonds= |series= |file= |box= |collection=Project PHAEDRA: Preserving Harvard's Early Data and Research in Astronomy |collection-url=https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/project-phaedra |repository= |institution=Harvard College Observatory |location= |bibcode=1911phae.proj..686A |accession= }}
• {{cite thesis |last=Allen |first=Leah B. |date=1912 |title=A study of the peculiar spectrum of the star Eta Centauri |url=https://libcat.wellesley.edu/Record/in00000388469 |work= |degree=Masters |location= |publisher=Wellesley College |access-date=22 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Leah B |date=October 1918 |title=Absorption lines in the spectrum of Nova Aquilae, No. 3 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40710143 |journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |volume=30 |issue=177 |pages=308–310 |doi=10.1086/122760 |jstor=40710143 |bibcode=1918PASP...30..308A |access-date=22 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Leah B. |date=1923 |title=Notes from 'The stone of the sun and the first chapter of the history of Mexico' |url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1923PA.....31..640A |journal=Popular Astronomy |volume=31 |issue=640 |publisher= |pages=640–641 |bibcode=1923PA.....31..640A |access-date=23 February 2023}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Leah B. |date=1925 |title=The radial velocities of twenty southern variable stars of class Me |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1925LicOB..12...71A |journal= Lick Observatory Bulletin |volume= 369 |issue= |pages=71–73 |doi=10.5479/ADS/bib/1925LicOB.12.71A |bibcode=1925LicOB..12...71A |access-date=22 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Duncan |first1=John C. |author-link1=John Charles Duncan |last2=Allen |first2=Leah B. |date=1927 |title=A new celestial globe for the use of students |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1927PAAS....5..145D |journal=Publications of the American Astronomical Society |volume=5 |issue= |pages=145–146 |bibcode=1927PAAS....5..145D |access-date=22 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Leah B. |last2=Marsh |first2=Franklin F. |date=August 1932 |title=Photographic light curves of RR Leonia and V Leonis Minoris |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1932BHarO.888...19A |journal=Harvard College Observatory Bulletin |volume=888 |issue= |pages=19–22 |bibcode=1932BHarO.888...19A |access-date=22 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Shapley |first1=Harlow |author-link1=Harlow Shapley |last2=Allen |first2=Leah B. |last3=Greenstein |first3=Naomi |date=August 1954 |title= New variable stars in Centaurus |url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1954AJ.....59..270S |journal=Astronomical Journal |volume=59 |issue=1219 |pages=270–271 |doi=10.1086/107011 |bibcode=1954AJ.....59..270S |access-date=22 February 2025}}

{{Reflist|refs=

• {{Cite web |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8QP-15N |title=Person Details for Leah Brown Allen, Rhode Island Births and Christenings, 1600-1914 |website=FamilySearch |access-date=2016-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329164459/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8QP-15N |archive-date=2017-03-29 |url-status=dead }}
• {{Cite web |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JRC5-TJM |title=Person Details for Leah Allen, United States Social Security Death Index |website=FamilySearch |access-date=2016-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329164456/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JRC5-TJM |archive-date=2017-03-29 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite news |last1=Proctor |first1=Mary |author-link1=Mary Proctor |date=August 23, 1908 |title=New England Girl Comes to Lick Observatory |url=https://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/lccn/sn85066387/1908-08-23/ed-1/seq-2 |work=San Francisco Call |access-date=2025-02-21}}
• {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/reportofpresiden3202well |title=Wellesley College Bulletin |chapter=Legacies and Gifts 1941-42 |author= |date=15 October 1942 |publisher=Wellesley College |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=W.W. |last2=Boothroyd |first2=S.L. |last3=Curtis |first3=H.D. |last4=Hoover |first4=J.E. |last5=Allen |first5=Leah B. |last6=Moore | first6=J.H. |last7=Babcock |first7=A.H. |last8=Lewis |first8=E.P. |display-authors=5 |date=August 1918 |title=The Crocker eclipse expedition from the Lick Observatory, University of California June 8, 1918 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40710021 |journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |volume=30 |issue=176 |pages=219–240 |doi= 10.1086/122736|jstor=40710021 |bibcode=1918PASP...30..219C |access-date=21 February 2025}}
• {{cite book |author= |date=1924 |title=Wellesley College Bulletin |chapter=Faculty |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7ZGAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA12 |location= |publisher= |page=12 |isbn= |access-date=21 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Leah |editor-last1=Wilson |editor-first1=Herbert C. |date=1916 |title=A More Favorable Public Opinion |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/PA.../0024//0000539.000.html |journal=Popular Astronomy |volume=24 |issue= |publisher=Goodsell Observatory, Carleton College |pages=538–540 |bibcode=1916PA.....24..538M |access-date=21 February 2025}}
• {{cite journal |author= |date=January 1933 |title=The Skyscrapers |url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1933PA.....41..121M |journal=Popular Astronomy |volume=41 |issue=120 |page=120-121 |bibcode=1933PA.....41....1. |access-date=21 February 2025 }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.aas.org/had/aashistory/7bmtg02c.html |title=History of the American Astronomical Society |accessdate=2009-06-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513220606/http://www.aas.org/had/aashistory/7bmtg02c.html |archivedate=2008-05-13 |quote=The Fifty-seventh Meeting of the AAS was held at Hood College, Frederick, Maryland, from Monday to Wednesday, December 28–30, 1936 at the invitation of Leah B. Allen, Professor of Astronomy. }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hoffleit |first1=Dorrit |author-link1=Dorrit Hoffleit |date=2001 |title=The Maria Mitchell Observatory: For Astronomical Research and Public Enlightenment |url=http://www.aavso.org/publications/ejaavso/v30n1/62.pdf |journal=Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers |volume=30 |issue= 1|publisher=AAVSO |pages=70 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109201922/http://www.aavso.org/publications/ejaavso/v30n1/62.pdf |archive-date=2009-01-09|doi= |bibcode=2001JAVSO..30...62H |access-date=}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.aip.org/history/ead/19990023.html |title=Finding Aid to the Papers of Annie Jump Cannon, 1863-1978 |accessdate=2025-02-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123623/http://www.aip.org/history/ead/19990023.html |archivedate=2011-06-04 |publisher=American Institute of Physics |website=Neils Bohr Library and Archives}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.aip.org/history/ead/19990074.html |title=Finding Aid to the William F. Meggers Papers, 1917-1966 |website=www.aip.org}}
• {{cite thesis |last=Bodine |first=Andrew |date=April 30, 2013 |title=Important Names in the History of Mathematics at Hood College |url=http://sections.maa.org/mddcva/OtherDocuments/HoodImportantNamesPaper.pdf |work=Hood College |degree= |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 February 2025}}
• {{cite news |last1=Breen |first1=Robert G. |date=22 June 1955 |title=Stars To Lose A Star Student |url= |work=The Sun |location=Baltimore, Md |publisher= |page=14 |access-date=}}
• {{cite news |author= |date=June 15, 1930 |title=Providence Girl Able Astronomer |url= |work=Providence Sunday Journal |location=Providence, RI |publisher= |access-date=}}
• {{cite news |author= |date=July 17, 1930 |title=Veteran Balloonist has First Trip in Heavier-Than-Air Ship |url= |work=Providence Journal |location=Providence, RI |publisher= |access-date=}}

}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Leah B.}}

Category:1884 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:American women astronomers

Category:20th-century American women scientists

Category:Wellesley College alumni

Category:Pembroke College in Brown University alumni

Category:Hood College faculty

Category:Whitin Observatory

Category:20th-century American astronomers

Category:American women academics