Margaret Mayall
BornJanuary 27, 1902
Iron Hill, Maryland, US
DiedDecember 6, 1995(1995-12-06) (aged 93)
NationalityAmerican
EducationSwarthmore College
Alma materSwarthmore College
Radcliffe College (M.A.)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy

Margaret Walton Mayall (January 27, 1902 – December 6, 1995) was an American astronomer. She was the director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) from 1949 to 1973.[1]

Early life and education

Mayall (born Margaret Lyle Walton) was born in Iron Hill, Maryland, on 27 January 1902.[1] She attended the University of Delaware, where her interest in astronomy grew after taking math and chemistry courses.[2] She then moved to Swarthmore College, where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics in 1924.[3]

She earned an MA in Astronomy from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, in 1928 and worked as a research assistant and astronomer at Harvard College Observatory from 1924 to 1954, initially working with Annie Jump Cannon on classifying star spectra and estimating star brightness.[3] She was a research staff member at the Heat Research Laboratory, Special Weapons Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1943 to 1946.[4]

Personal life

While working in Nantucket, she met Robert Newton Mayall, a member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). They married in 1927.[1]

She died of congestive heart failure in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 6 December 1995.[1]

Awards

In 1958 she won the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Margaret Walton Mayall (1902–1995)". aas.org. American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  2. "Halley's Comet & Northern Lights Stimulated Interest in Astronomy for a Young Lady From Iron Hill". Window on Cecil County's Past. January 16, 2015. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  3. 1 2 Notick, Samantha (2022). "Margaret Walton Mayall". Wolbach Library. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  4. Saladyga, Michael. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (PDF). p. 751.

Further reading

  • Williams, Thomas R.; Saladyga, Michael (2011). Advancing Variable Star Astronomy: The Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-49634-6.


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