Helen Sawyer Hogg

Helen Sawyer Hogg
Plaque to Helen Sawyer Hogg at Canada Science and Technology Museum
Born	(1905-08-01)1 August 1905 Lowell, Massachusetts
Died	28 January 1993(1993-01-28) (aged 87) Richmond Hill, Ontario
Fields	Astronomy
Institutions	David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto
Known for	globular clusters
Notable awards	Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (1949) Rittenhouse Medal (1967) Klumpke-Roberts Award (1983)

Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg, CC (1 August 1905 – 28 January 1993) was an astronomer noted for pioneering research into globular clusters and variable stars. She was the first female president of several astronomical organizations and a notable woman of science in a time when many universities would not award scientific degrees to women. Her scientific advocacy and journalism included astronomy columns in the Toronto Star ("With the Stars", 1951–81) and the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada ("Out of Old Books", 1946–65). She was considered a "great scientist and a gracious person" over a career of sixty years.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts on August 1, 1905, Helen was the second daughter of banker Edward Everett Sawyer and his wife Carrier Sprague Sawyer who was previously a schoolteacher. Talented academically, Helen graduated from Lowell High School at the age of 15, but chose to stay for an additional year before leaving to attend Mount Holyoke College in 1922.

After graduating from high school, Helen enrolled in Mount Holyoke College. Despite having nearly completed a chemistry degree, she changed her major from chemistry to astronomy after attending introductory astronomy classes with Dr. Anne Sewell in her junior year (1925). In January 1925, Dr. Sewell took her class to see a total eclipse of the sun and a year later Annie Jump Cannon, an astronomer working at Harvard University, came to visit Mount Holyoke. Helen cited these experiences as defining moments that led to her career studying stars. In 1926 Helen completed her undergraduate degree in astronomy, graduating magna cum laude.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke, Helen received a fellowship for graduate study at Harvard Observatory in the fall of 1926 with the help of Dr. Cannon. Once at Harvard Helen worked with Dr. Harlow Shapley, the director of the graduate program in astronomy. Following the expectations and work ethic of Dr. Shapley, Helen worked hard, long hours measuring the size and brightness of globular clusters and published several papers. Helen received her master's degree in 1928 and her doctoral degree in 1931, both from Radcliffe College, as Harvard refused to award graduate degrees in science to women at the time.