Monday colloquium
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is excited to announce a special colloquium.
At 4:00pm CDT on Monday, April 15, Dr. Kristine Palmieri (PhD in history, 2022, University of Chicago) will present “Running the Observatory by Women Power: A New History Yerkes Observatory, 1900–1930” in person.
Abstract: A particular story is often told about women in the history of American astronomy and astrophysics. In the early twentieth century, so it goes, the best position a woman could hope for was that of (human) computer, working at an observatory to process the data from positional observations, photographs, or spectrograms that had been produced by men. Yet new research has revealed that women working at Yerkes Observatory did far more than this. They earned advanced degrees, conducted their own research, collaborated on projects with peers of both sexes, authored publications in their own names, and advanced the work of the observatory in substantive rather than merely quantitative ways. By focusing on the stories of these women, this talk offers a new perspective on the history of women in American astronomy and astrophysics, which foregrounds both their independent agency and their scientific labor.
You can see the online announcement here: http://physics.wku.edu/cgi-bin/colloquia/announcement.pl?semester=46&talk=596
The presentation will be given in KTH 2038 and also via Zoom (Zoom ID: 93595838321).
Ivan Novokov
