Maria Mitchell

MARIA MITCHELL The person that I chose for the Womens History Month report is Maria Mitchell, who was a self- taught astronomer. She discovered Comet Mitchell and made amazing achievements throughout her life. Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818 on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket to William and Lydia Mitchell. When Maria Mitchell was growing up in the Quaker community, few girls were allowed to study astronomy and higher mathematics. Even though the Mitchell's …

…over the front of the Boston Public Library. In 1905 she was one of the first women elected to the Hall of Fame. In 1994, she was admitted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. An observatory was also erected in her honor on Nantucket Island. But even had she known of these later honors, her greatest satisfaction would still have been the effect she had on the lives of her students.