Margaret Mayall

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]

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

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. "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. 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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