Margaret Mayall
{{short description|American astronomer}}{{Infobox scientist
| name = Margaret Mayall
| image =
| birth_date = January 27, 1902
| birth_place = Iron Hill, Maryland, US
| death_date = {{death date and age |1995|12|06 |1902|01|27 |mf=yes}}
| death_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
| nationality = American
| ethnicity =
| field = Astronomy
| education = Swarthmore College
| work_institutions =
| alma_mater = Swarthmore College
Radcliffe College (M.A.)
| prizes =
| religion =
| signature =
}}
Margaret Walton Mayall (January 27, 1902 – December 6, 1995) was an American astronomer. She was the director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) from 1949 to 1973.{{Cite web|url=https://aas.org/obituaries/margaret-walton-mayall-1902-1995|title=Margaret Walton Mayall (1902–1995)|publisher=American Astronomical Society|website=aas.org|language=en|access-date=2016-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322123323/https://aas.org/obituaries/margaret-walton-mayall-1902-1995|archive-date=2016-03-22|url-status=dead}}
Early life and education
Mayall (born Margaret Lyle Walton) was born in Iron Hill, Maryland, on 27 January 1902. She attended the University of Delaware, where her interest in astronomy grew after taking math and chemistry courses.{{Cite web |date=January 16, 2015 |title=Halley's Comet & Northern Lights Stimulated Interest in Astronomy for a Young Lady From Iron Hill |url=https://cecilcountyhistory.com/tag/margaret-walton/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Window on Cecil County's Past |language=en-US}} She then moved to Swarthmore College, where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics in 1924.
She earned an MA in Astronomy from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, in 1928 and worked as a research assistant and astronomer at Harvard College Observatory from 1924 to 1954, initially working with Annie Jump Cannon on classifying star spectra and estimating star brightness.{{Cite web |last=Notick |first=Samantha |date=2022 |title=Margaret Walton Mayall |url=https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/margaret-walton-mayall |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Wolbach Library |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103190542/https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/margaret-walton-mayall|archive-date=November 3, 2022}} During this time, she would spend summers working with Margaret Hardwood of the Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket, MA, where she became interested in researching variable stars.{{Cite web |title=Margaret Walton Mayall |url=https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/women-at-hco/margaret-walton-mayall |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=library.cfa.harvard.edu |language=en}} She was a research staff member at the Heat Research Laboratory, Special Weapons Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1943 to 1946.{{cite book |last1=Saladyga |first1=Michael |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |url=http://www.fulviofrisone.com/attachments/article/464/Springer-Verlag%20The%20Biographical%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Astronomers.pdf |page=751}}
Personal life
While working in Nantucket, she met Robert Newton Mayall, a member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), and would marry in 1927. They co-wrote several books on sundial and other subjects while working with the Ernst Sundial Collection of Harvard.
She died of congestive heart failure in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 6 December 1995.
Awards
In 1957, she was the recipient of the G. Bruce Blair Gold Medal from the Western Amateur Society.
In 1958, she won the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy.
In 1982, a minor planet was named, 3342 Fivesparks, in honor of her and her husband's home in Cambridge.
References
Further reading
- {{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Thomas R. |last2= Saladyga|first2=Michael|title=Advancing Variable Star Astronomy: The Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49634-6}}
External links
- [http://www.aavso.org/margaret-mayall Letters at the AAVSO]
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28323-1 Oral history interview with Margaret Mayall on 11 August 1986, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives] - Session I
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28323-2 Oral history interview with Margaret Mayall on 12 September 1986, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives] - Session II
- [https://zenodo.org/record/8326#.W73xWbxKjrc The Harold C. Ernst Collection of Portable Sundials]
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Category:American women astronomers
Category:Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy
Category:20th-century American women scientists
Category:People from Cecil County, Maryland
Category:20th-century American scientists
Category:Radcliffe College alumni