 | Dorrit Hoffleit |
Astronomers from across the country will gather on campus to pay tribute to 99-year-old Dorrit Hoffleit, a retired senior research astronomer, during a symposium being hosted in honor of her centennial by the Department of Astronomy Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29.
The symposium, which will take place at the New Haven Omni Hotel at Yale, 155 Temple St., will feature sessions highlighting areas of research and education in which Hoffleit was involved during her 50 years as a researcher in the Yale astronomy department and 25 years at Harvard. Attendees and speakers include those who have known and worked with Hoffleit throughout her long career.
Hoffleit turned 99 on March 12. Born in New Castle, Alabama, she struggled to make her own mark in the shadow of a brilliant brother and the common attitude of the era expressed by her mother at her birth, "The good Lord could not be good to me twice; it's only a girl," Hoffleit has recounted. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1928 and, unable to find employment as a high school teacher in mathematics, took a job at the Harvard College Observatory earning 40 cents an hour when the going rate for men was
Beginning with her thesis work on meteors, Hoffleit's work evolved to include spectra stars and her lifelong interest in trying to understand and characterize stars that varied in light. She is the author of the last three editions of the most popular catalog in astronomy, the "Yale Catalog of Bright Stars," and also wrote the "Yale Parallax Catalog," several volumes of the "Yale Zone Catalog" and numerous other publications in the astronomical literature. Since her retirement in 1978, Hoffleit has continued her research on variable stars and the preparation of catalogs that have been used by astronomers throughout the world. Her work on the "Yale Catalog of Bright Stars" earned her the George van Biesbroeck Award for dedication to astronomy in 1988.
Hoffleit has also acted as the historian for the astronomy department and wrote the book "Astronomy at Yale 1701-1968." She has also written many articles on astronomical history.
From 1957 until 1978, Hoffleit directed a summer school at the Maria Mitchell Observatory that provided the first research experiences for many women in astronomy today. A Hoffleit Assistantship was established in her honor at the observatory, and in 1993 she was presented the American Astronomical Society's Annenberg Prize for science education in recognition of her dedication to providing opportunities for young women to experience research, write papers and present their results at astronomical meetings.
Hoffleit was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. Her many other honors include honorary degrees from Smith College and Central Connecticut State University.
There is a fee for the symposium, and registration is required. To register, or for more information, visit www.astro.yale.edu/hoffleit/Hoffleit2006.
T H I S
Symposium honors centennial
of astronomy researcher
$1 an hour. Under the tutelage of observatory director Harlow Shapley, Hoffleit proved her abilities as an assistant and was encouraged to begin graduate studies. She earned her Ph.D. from Radcliffe College in 1938.
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