Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming

[susanreads]

She is an astronomer, August:

Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming

1857-1911

Born in Scotland, Fleming worked there as a teacher until she moved with her husband to the United States. With a broken marriage and pregnant, she began working as a maid for Edward Pickering, the Director of Harvard Observatory. Soon she was in charge of carefully reviewing photographic plates of the sky, some of which were of very poor quality, and obtained excellent results such as the discovery of the Horsehead Nebula. She was finally appointed as curator of the plates archive in 1898, the first institutional position in Harvard held by a woman.

She immigrated to United States from Scotland in 1878.

She discovered 10 novas, 59 gaseous nebulae and over 300 variable stars.

On the calendar there's also a photo (a clipped version of the one on Wikipedia) and a painting of Mrs. Fleming with a drawing or measuring implement and some foggy plates. Her Wikipedia article has more about her work, including how she wasn't initially given proper credit for her discoveries.