WILLIAMINA FLEMING, ASTRONOMER

An abandoned wife becomes an acclaimed astronomer in Vizurraga’s fictionalized autobiography of a real-life woman who charted the stars while navigating the constraints of her era.

In 1879, pregnant Scottish immigrant Williamina “Mina” Fleming is abandoned by her husband. Though she had hoped to continue her education in America, she counts herself lucky to find a job as a maid in the household of Harvard astrophysicist Edward Pickering. Once Pickering discovers Mina’s keen intellect, he employs her as a “computer” (“We have a few women computers, unusually adept at mathematics. But not in the Observatory proper. The machinery is heavy and requires some strength to manage, as you can see”). Analyzing photographic images captured by the observatory’s telescope, Mina identifies, classifies, and tracks the movements of stars. She is soon promoted and acquires many additional responsibilities. This begins a 30-year career at the observatory in which she plays various roles: supervisor, editor, and co-developer of what will become the field-wide system for classifying stars. Mina’s story is a compelling portrait of a talented woman coming into her own. Initially regarding her position merely as fortunate employment, she gradually recognizes herself as a true astronomer and trailblazer. The author skillfully illuminates the paradox of women’s scientific work in this era: Because examining photographic plates was dismissed as tedious drudgery, women were permitted—and egregiously underpaid—to perform it, yet this very marginalization granted them the intellectual liberty to excel. Mina emerges in these pages as a woman whose achievements are remarkable by the standards of her time, yet she remains systematically constrained, burdened with expectations placed on no male colleagues, and denied deserved recognition. She chafes at her inadequate compensation and the exhausting dual demands of a scientific career and household management, but her gratitude for opportunities she never anticipated and her amazement at her own accomplishments temper her protests—perhaps more than they should. Throughout, she maintains admirable humor and perspective. Vizurraga’s decision to render the text in verse lends the narrative a certain distinctiveness, but the approach adds little substantively and occasionally sacrifices sensory detail and immediacy.

An engaging, thoughtful introduction to an overlooked scientific pioneer.