Maria Mitchell was the first American astronomer to discover a telescopic comet—a comet too far away to see with the naked eye but detectable with a telescope. For her achievement, she was rewarded with a gold medal by the king of Denmark, became the first female member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and later became a professor at Vassar College, one of the first exclusively all-women colleges in America.
Read more in…
Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection Volume One: Precolonial North America To The Early Republic – Dr. Peg A. Lamphier And Dr. Rosanne Welch, Editors
Recommend this set to your local and university librarian