Littleton — Today it’s hard to believe, but less than 100 years ago, American women still hadn’t obtained the right to vote. That came with the passage of the 19th amendment in August of 1920. If this commonplace right was denied, you can imagine how difficult it would have been to be recognized as a serious scientist, particularly in the male-dominated study of astronomy.
So it was some surprise that the March 8, 1912 edition of The New York Times carried the following headline:
“Astronomy Prize to Woman — Miss Harwood is awarded the $1,000 Nantucket Fellowship
Cambridge, Massachusetts–the Woman's Astronomical fellowship of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association was awarded today to Ms. Margaret Harwood of Littleton, Mass. The Fellowship… is to be devoted to advanced astronomical study and research work for six months on Nantucket Island and six months in any large observatory, which the recipient may choose.
Miss Harwood is a graduate of Radcliffe College and for the past four years has studied as an assistant in the Harvard Observatory.”
Well, long before she could vote, Harwood was making a name for herself in newspapers throughout the world.
Littleton beginnings
Harwood was born in 1885 and educated in the Littleton and Concord school systems. She excelled at math and science, which gained her acceptance into the all-women’s Radcliffe College. According to the Harvard University Library, she graduated in 1907, a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After graduation she worked as an assistant at the Harvard College Observatory until 1912 when she got her first big break winning the aforementioned fellowship.
At Nantucket she worked at the observatory, which was named after the astronomer and educator, Maria Mitchell. Mitchell discovered a comet in 1847, which led to international fame and many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first American Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College. Mitchell was a true pioneer for women in science and her achievements provided Harwood a solid platform for launching her own career.
In 1916 Harwood earned her master’s degree from the University of California and was next appointed director at the Maria Mitchell Observatory, the first woman to be appointed to that position at an independent observatory in the United States. She would serve as director there for the next 41 years until 1957.
An otherworldly woman
At the time, the few women who were involved in astronomy were relegated to areas of study that were less interesting and cutting edge. However limited her opportunities, that didn’t stop Harwood from making the most of them — there was a big universe out there.
As mentioned in the Encyclopedia of World Scientists, she devoted herself to the study of variable stars and asteroids or minor planets as they are sometimes called. Her particular field was photometry, measuring variation in the light of stars and asteroids, especially that of the asteroid Eros.
According to the Dictionary of Minor Planets, Volume 1, her discovery of the asteroid Washingtonia four days before its official recognition by the U.S. Naval Observatory in 1917 was squashed.
At the time, her Harvard mentors considered it inappropriate for women to receive public recognition for these discoveries so they deferred to the later U.S. Naval Observatory’s claim.
However she would do them all one better some day.
In the interim, she satisfied herself as the only woman astronomer to have photographed three solar eclipses and she was recognized in astronomical societies here and abroad. She continued to publish articles about variable stars and asteroids and their light wave patterns.
Part of a larger Universe
But there was so much more to Harwood than just pure science. She was an educational and civic leader throughout her lifetime, including:
· Teaching at MIT during World War II
· Mentoring students
· Participating in various professional organizations
· Awarded a Graduate Chapter Medal by Radcliffe College
· Red Cross home service worker 1918-1922
· Trustee of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital 1925-1927
· President of the Coffin School Association 1935-1937
· Member of the Nantucket School Committee 1936-1940
· Helping Boy Scouts earn merit badges in astronomy
· A member of the American Astronomical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (England)
· Teaching at various at private schools in Massachusetts
· Teaching evening classes in navigation to adults and during World War II, to members of the Navy Sea Bees in Nantucket.
· Serving as secretary to her class at Radcliffe from 1905-1922
· In 1957, following her retirement from the Maria Mitchell Observatory, she was presented a Graduate Chapter Medal by Radcliffe College for distinguished achievement
The tall and slender Harwood was a woman who carried herself with great charm, always looking to help others. In Lillian Moller Gilbreth’s book, “A Life beyond ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’” she talked about Harwood at Nantucket:
“(She) held an open house every other Monday and the Gilbreths were among the dozens of people climbing up onto the Observatory to look through the telescope and learn about stars. She taught them how to use a sextant and navigate by the stars; she also ran a wildflower club. She was immensely popular on the island and is remembered as having loads of charm — the way she greeted people she was just wonderful. She had loads of friends.
There were not many opportunities for women astronomers in those days, but Margaret Harwood did what she could to help. Young women in turn spent the summer on the island helping her run the observatory. Margaret was remembered as a guide, philosopher and friend. Sometimes stopping by to go swimming with the Gilbreths and talk to the children, ‘Marnie’ as they called her, was a great favorite of the girls.”
Still in orbit
Harwood died in 1979 at the age of 94 and is buried at Westlawn Cemetery in Littleton. But during her lifetime she was able to witness great advances for both women and astronomy.
She saw men land on the moon and learn that Sally Ride was becoming America’s first astronaut. She knew of the Mariner spacecraft reaching Venus and Mars and the Pioneer program reaching out to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond. She read of Rachel Carson’s contributions to environmental science and Margaret Mead’s insights into anthropology.
Harwood may have wondered if things would have been different if she had been born later — but one thing that she couldn’t change was the recognition of her fellow astronomers bestowed upon her in September 1960. The scientific trio of Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groveneveld and Tom Gehrels discovered an asteroid and promptly named it in Harwood’s honor.
7040 Harwood (2642 P-L) sits in the main belt asteroid forever tumbling and orbiting our sun between Mars and Jupiter. And justice be served: Neither Harvard nor the U.S. Naval Observatory can claim a asteroid named in their honor.
Live on Margaret!
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