Williamina Fleming, Astronomer: An Imagined Memoir - Paperback

by Susan Vizurraga (Author)

Desperate, pregnant, and abandoned by her new husband just weeks after immigrating to Boston, 21-year-old "Mina" Fleming works as a housemaid for the Director of the Harvard College Observatory. It's 1879. Science and industry are about to usher in the Gilded Age.

Astronomers who thought they had mapped all the stars in the sky are finding that the universe is more vast than they ever imagined. Mina rises from maid to discoverer of new stars, first woman to hold a title at Harvard, and consultant to scientists all over the world. But they do not call her "Astronomer." She is one of Harvard's "Women Computers," doing the work at a fraction of their pay.

This historical fiction novel-in-verse, an imagined memoir of Williamina Fleming's own life, work, and words, brings to life a forgotten scientist, a woman of strength, intelligence, and character who will inspire readers today.