Antonia Maury
| Antonia Maury | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | March 21, 1866 Cold Spring, NY |
| Died | January 8, 1952 (aged 85) Dobbs Ferry, NY |
| Nationality | USA |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Harvard College Observatory |
| Alma mater | Vassar College |
| Academic advisors | Maria Mitchell |
| Notable awards | Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy (1943) |
Antonia Maury (March 21, 1866 – January 8, 1952) was an American astronomer who published an important early catalog of stellar spectra.
Antonia Coetana de Paiva Pereira Maury was born in Cold Spring, New York in 1866. She was named in honor of her maternal grandmother, Antonia Coetana de Paiva Pereira Gardner Draper, who belonged to a noble family that fled Portugal for Brazil on account of Napoleon Bonaparte's wars. Maury's father was the Reverend Mytton Maury, a direct descendant of the Reverend James Maury and one of the sons of Sarah Mytton Maury. Maury's mother was Virginia Draper, a daughter of Antonia Coetana de Paiva Pereira Gardner and Dr. John William Draper.
Maury was also the granddaughter of John William Draper and a niece of Henry Draper, both pioneering astronomers. As such, young Antonia and her two siblings were exposed to science at a very early age. Her younger sister, Carlotta Maury, went on to become a geologist, stratigrapher, paleontologist.
Antonia Maury attended Vassar College, graduating in 1887 with honors in physics, astronomy, and philosophy. There, she studied under the tutelage of renowned astronomer Maria Mitchell.
After completing her undergraduate work, Maury went to work at the Harvard College Observatory as one of the so-called Harvard Computers, highly skilled women who processed astronomical data. In this capacity, Maury observed stellar spectra and published an important catalogue of classifications in 1897.
Edward Charles Pickering, the observatory's director, disagreed with Maury’s system of classification and explanation of differing line widths. In response to this negative reaction to her work, she decided to leave the observatory. However, Danish astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung realized the value of her classifications and used them in his system of identifying giant and dwarf stars.
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