Maria Mitchell (1) (1818–1889)

Maria Mitchell was the first professional woman astronomer in the U.S. She was born into a Quaker family on Nantucket that believed in the equality of women. Her father built an observatory on the roof of their home and it was through his telescope that she identified a comet in 1847. She worked at Nantucket's Atheneum Library, travelled in Europe with Nathaniel Hawthorne's family, and in 1849 became the first woman employed full-time by the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office. In 1865, Maria Mitchell became professor of astronomy and director of the observatory at the new Vassar College. She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.