Maria Mitchell and her student Mary Whitney in the Vassar College observatory, about 1877
Mitchell (left), an astronomer and teacher, received international recognition for her discovery of a telescopic comet in 1847. A strong advocate for women's education, she taught at Vassar from 1865 to 1888. In 1963 the president of Vassar offered Mitchell's astronomical telescope, built by Henry Fitz in 1863, to the Smithsonian.
See also:
Science and Scientists, Women's History
