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Alice Hall Farnsworth

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Alice Hall Farnsworth
Alice Hall Farnsworth, an older white woman with short, grey hair.
Alice Hall Farnsworth, at Yerkes Observatory in 1941.
BornOctober 16, 1893
Williamsburg, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedOctober 1, 1960
Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupationastronomer
Years active1920-1957
Known fordirector of Williston Observatory, professor at Mount Holyoke College

Alice Hall Farnsworth (October 19, 1893 – October 1, 1960) was an American astronomer. She was director of John Payson Williston Observatory at Mount Holyoke College from 1936 until her retirement in 1957.

Early life

Alice Hall Farnsworth was born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts,[1] the youngest of four children of Frederick Tudor Farnsworth and Anna Caroline Tufts Farnsworth. As a child, she was an active reader of St. Nicholas magazine, submitting contest entries and winning prizes.[2]

Farnsworth studied astronomy under Anne Sewell Young at Mount Holyoke College, earning her bachelor's degree in 1916; one of Young's other notable students at the time was astronomer Helen Sawyer Hogg. Farnsworth pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago, where she earned a master's degree in 1917 and a Ph.D. in 1920. Her dissertation, A comparison of the photometric fields of the 6-inch doublet: 24-inch reflector, and 40-inch refractor of the Yerkes Observatory, with some investigation of the astrometric field of the reflector (University of Chicago Press 1926),[3] was based on her research at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin.[4][5][6]

Career

Farnsworth was elected to the membership of the American Astronomical Society in 1917. She returned to the astronomy department at Mount Holyoke[7] after completing her doctorate. She taught astronomy courses,[8] including darkroom skills. From 1929-1931 she was president of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. From 1930-1931 she was a visiting researcher and Martin Kellogg Fellow[9] at Lick Observatory in California.[10] She succeeded Anne S. Young as director of the Williston Observatory in 1936.[4] In 1937, she was promoted to the rank of full professor.[11] From 1938 to 1941, she served on the council of the American Astronomical Society.[12] During a sabbatical in 1940-1941, she traveled to Brazil to observe a solar eclipse, in a small team of scientists led by Charles Hugh Smiley;[13] she wrote about her time in South America for Popular Astronomy.[14]

Farnsworth's research involved stars in a region of the constellation Cassiopeia, and stellar photometry; she also continued the Williston Observatory's studies of sunspots and lunar occultations.[15][4] Publications by Farnsworth included "Proper Motions of Certain Long Period Variable Stars" (The Astronomical Journal 1921, with Anne Sewell Young),[16] Zone + 45 ̊ of Kapteyn's selected areas: photographic photometry for 1550 stars (University of Chicago Press 1927, with John Adelbert Pankhurst),[17] "Measurement of Effective Wave-Lengths with the Recording Microphotometer" (Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1931),[18] A study of effective wave-lengths with the recording microphotometer ; Color changes in variable stars (University of California Press 1933),[19] and "Stellar Spectra and Colors in Milky Way Region in Cassiopeia" (Astrophysical Journal Supplement 1955).[20]

Personal life

Alice Hall Farnsworth died in 1960, aged 66 years, in Newton, Massachusetts.[21][22] Her papers are in the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Farnsworth Papers, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections.
  2. ^ Dodge, Mary Mapes (1909). "St. Nicholas League". St. Nicholas. 36: 95, 287, 383, 562.
  3. ^ Farnsworth, Alice H (1926). A comparison of the photometric fields of the 6-inch doublet: 24-inch reflector, and 40-inch refractor of the Yerkes observatory, with some investigation of the astrometric field of the reflector. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 8061792.
  4. ^ a b c Hazen, Martha L. (1985). "Anne S. Young and Alice H. Farnsworth: 58 Years of Astronomy At Mount Holyoke College". The Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. 14 (2): 49–51. Bibcode:1985JAVSO..14...49H.
  5. ^ "Alice Hall Farnsworth 1916". MHC Postcards. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
  6. ^ Payne, William Wallace; Willard, Charlotte R.; Wilson, Herbert Couper; Wilson, Ralph Elmer; Gingrich, Curvin Henry (November 1920). "Notes from Yerkes Observatory". Popular Astronomy. 28: 563.
  7. ^ Lankford, John; Slavings, Ricky L. (1997-05-15). American Astronomy: Community, Careers, and Power, 1859-1940. University of Chicago Press. p. 311. ISBN 9780226468860.
  8. ^ Annual Catalogue of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary and College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke College. 1917. p. 14.
  9. ^ Lick Astronomical Department, University of California. University of California Press. 1930. p. 1.
  10. ^ Lankford, John; Slavings, Ricky L. (1997-05-15). American Astronomy: Community, Careers, and Power, 1859-1940. University of Chicago Press. pp. 317, 334. ISBN 9780226468860.
  11. ^ "Mount Holyoke Promotes Two". The New York Times. October 20, 1937. p. 11 – via ProQuest.
  12. ^ "Meetings of the AAS: 1937-1942 | Historical Astronomy Division". American Astronomical Society. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
  13. ^ "Special Camera to 'Shoot' Sun". The Monroe News-Star. August 21, 1940. p. 10. Retrieved June 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Farnsworth, Alice H. (1941). “An Astronomer’s Trip to South America,” Popular Astronomy 49: 405–418.
  15. ^ "Scientists in the News". Science. 129 (3362): 1540–1541. 1959. ISSN 0036-8075. JSTOR 1757669.
  16. ^ Farnsworth, Alice H.; Young, Anne S. (August 1921). "Proper Motions of Certain Long Period Variable Stars". The Astronomical Journal. 33: 194. Bibcode:1921AJ.....33..194Y. doi:10.1086/104468.
  17. ^ PARKHURST, John Adelbert; FARNSWORTH, Alice Hall (1927). Zone +45° of Kapteyn's Selected Areas. Photographic photometry for 1550 stars, etc. Chicago. OCLC 563557850.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ^ Farnsworth, Alice H. (1931). "Measurement of Effective Wave-Lengths with the Recording Microphotometer". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 43 (255): 340–344. Bibcode:1931PASP...43..340F. doi:10.1086/124154. ISSN 0004-6280. JSTOR 40668844.
  19. ^ Farnsworth, Alice H (1933). A study of effective wave-lengths with the recording microphotometer ; Color changes in variable stars. Berkeley: University of California Press. OCLC 35980214.
  20. ^ Farnsworth, A. H. (1955). "Stellar Spectra and Colors in a Milky way Region in Cassiopeia". Astrophysical Journal Supplement. 2: 123–140. Bibcode:1955ApJS....2..123F. doi:10.1086/190018.
  21. ^ "Obituary: Dr. Alice H. Farnsworth". The North Adams Transcript. October 3, 1960. p. 16. Retrieved June 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Dr. A. H. Farnsworth". The Boston Globe. October 3, 1960. p. 19. Retrieved June 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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