Mary Watson Whitney

Mary Watson Whitney (September 11, 1847 – January 20, 1921) was an American astronomer, professor at Vassar College, and, from 1888 to 1910, director of the Vassar College Observatory. In 1899 she was a founding member of the American Astronomical Society. In 1900 Whitney was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Quotes

Vassar College Observatory was established and equipped at the opening of the college in 1865.
The equatorial telescope has an objective of 12⅓ inches aperture and a focal length of 16¾ feet. It was originally made by Fitz of New York, but in 1872 the glass was re-cut by Clark, and in 1888 the telescope was re-mounted by Warner & Swasey. It was also at that time provided with electrical illumination for the filar micrometer. The magnifying powers, negative and positive, range from 150 to 600. A spectroscope made by Brashear was added in 1890. This spectroscope has a prism for star spectra and a Rowland grating for the solar spectrum. There is also a Browning direct-vision spectroscope. The transit circle has an objective aperture of 3¾ inches. It was made by Young of Philadelphia. In 1889 it was re-mounted by Saegmuller. The clock and chronograph are of Bond manufacture.
- (1894). "Vassar College Observatory.". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 6 (36): 151–152.

Firstly, we wish to know whence comes the comet and whither it goes. We wish to follow its path, as it sweeps its way through our solar system. As this orbit is controlled by the same law of gravity which controls all celestial motion, an exact knowledge of a comet's course among the planets, gives the basis of investigation regarding its relation to the solar system and to the realms of space beyond. Therefore one important line of investigation is the determination of the positions of the comet in the sky, from whence may be obtained its orbit in space. Secondly, the astronomer wished to know what are the nature and constitution of comets. The investigation of this question is of comparatively recent origin, and belongs to spectroscopic astronomy.
- "Determination of the positions of comets". Popular Astronomy 4: 177–181. (quote from p. 177)

... Suppose a large number of values, subject to variations on either side of a mean value, and suppose these variations bound by no common law. Then, if a sufficiently large number of such values are taken into consideration, it will be found that the variations on either side of the mean value will counterbalance one another. If, then, we regard the absolute motions of the stars as subject to no common law, i.e., if we suppose the stars to be pursuing their courses independent of any common centres of gravity, and if a very large number of proper motions are taken together, if would follow from this principle, that in the aggregate the peculiar proper motions would cancel one another, and the mean result would be unaffected by them and would give only the parallactic effect of solar translation. This method of treatment, based upon the theory of probability, is called the method of "Least Squares," and is of wide application ...
- (1897). "Problem of Solar Motion". Popular Astronomy 5: 309–315. (quote from p. 311)

Although banquets at professional meetings (like the chemists' "misogynists' dinner" of 1880) had long excluded women, the ban began to seem a little less intimidating around 1900, when several women scientists began in their own quiet way to challenge some of these age-old restrictions. Thus, for example, Mary Whitney of Vassar College, who had attended the founding meeting of the American Astronomical Society at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin in 1899 with her protégée and successor, Caroline Furness, was still not sure whether they would be welcome at the society's banquet in Washington, D.C., in 1902. President Simon Newcomb noticed her unease and wrote to assure her that they were indeed expected to attend ... Newcomb's encouragement induced these women to go, and thereby set a precedent for later meetings.
- Magaret W. Rossiter, Women Scientists in America: Volume One. Struggles and Strategies to 1940. John Hopkins University Press. 1982. pp. 91–92. ISBN 0-8018-2509-1.