She is an astronomer

[susanreads]

Via Jess McCabe in comments at the F Word, I discovered sheisanastronomer.org, part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, which produced a calendar for 2010, downloadable from here. The year was nearly over at that point, but everything except the dates is still relevant! The "high resolution" files are enormous, the "low resolution" version still perfectly legible - if you can read PDFs. In case people can't, I thought I'd copy the content here, starting with the prologue.

Modern astronomy cannot be understood without the extraordinary work of all those women who, thanks to their dedication and love for science, have left us their legacy. While a well-documented history of the role of women in astronomy is scarce, various observatories and universities around the world show that many women, through their paid or unpaid work, have significantly contributed to shape our current vision of the Universe.

The initiative to produce this calendar was taken by the “Ella es una Astrónoma” (“She is an astronomer”) group in Spain within the framework of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). “She is an astronomer” is one of the Cornerstone Projects promoted by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO for IYA2009. This calendar is a contribution of the Spanish team to promote equal opportunity between men and women, which is one of the United Nations Millennium Goals. We wish to promote women’s participation in all environments related to professional and amateur astronomy, and to support the training of young female researchers and technologists. Astronomy continues to attract women and benefits from their contribution, but we are far from the desired 50% participation. There is also a wide geographical diversity, with few countries having more than 25% of female astronomers and many having less than 10%. It is in our hands, men and women, to create a society that defends the principle of equal opportunity for all its members.

With this calendar we aim to help reconstruct the history of women in astronomy, which, as in other fields of knowledge, is poorly known. We have highlighted exceptional women whose contributions to the advancement of science deserve to transcend anonymity and occupy a place in history. We have tried to give visibility and to value the contributions of women astronomers from different epochs and countries. Of course, the selection presented in this calendar is not exhaustive; the list does not end here. Many projects developed by “She is an astronomer” teams in different countries have expanded and will continue to expand this work to produce a more complete view of the contributions of women to the history of Astronomy.

I'll write about the twelve featured astronomers in subsequent posts ... at least, that's the plan, but you know how it is about plans.