Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg (August 1, 1905 – January 28, 1993) was an American-Canadian astronomer who pioneered research into globular clusters and variable stars. She was the first female president of several astronomical organizations and a scientist when many universities would not award scientific degrees to women. Her dedication to sharing astronomy with the wider public led to scientific advocacy and journalism, including columns in the Toronto Star ("With the Stars", 1951–81) and the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada ("Out of Old Books", 1946–65). She was considered a "great scientist and a gracious person" over a career of sixty years.

Early life

alt=Lowell High School, where Hellen graduated at 15 years old.|thumb|Lowell High School, where Helen graduated at 15 years old

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on August 1, 1905, Helen was the second daughter of banker Edward Everett Sawyer and former teacher Carrie Myra Sprague Sawyer. Academically gifted, Helen graduated from Lowell High School at the age of 15, but chose to stay for another year before leaving to attend Mount Holyoke College in 1922.

Education

After graduating from high school, Hogg enrolled in Mount Holyoke College. Despite having nearly completed a chemistry degree, she changed her major from chemistry to astronomy after attending introductory astronomy classes with Dr. Anne Sewell Young in her junior year (1925). Hogg cited these experiences as defining moments that led to her career studying stars.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke, Hogg received a fellowship for graduate study at Harvard Observatory in the fall of 1926 with the help of Dr. Cannon.

For her advances in astronomy, Hogg received honorary doctoral degrees from six Canadian and U.S. Universities, including Mount Holyoke College and the University of Toronto. She was also known for the 30 years she spent writing her weekly column "With the Stars", which was published in the Toronto Star. an eight-show television series on Canadian educational television in 1970, and her role as founding president of the Canadian Astronomical Society.

Helen Sawyer Hogg died of a heart attack on January 28, 1993, in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Awards and honors

thumb|right|The Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory|250x250px

Awards

  • Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society in 1949
  • Rittenhouse Astronomical Society Silver Medal Award in 1967

Honors and dedications

  • Made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1968, and promoted to Companion in 1976 – considered one of the highest honors in the nation.
  • The asteroid 2917 Sawyer Hogg is named after her.
  • In 1992, the telescope at the University of Toronto Southern Observatory (UTSO) on Cerro Las Campanas, Chile, was named in honour of Hogg.
  • The University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, offers the Helen Sawyer Hogg scholarship in Astronomy to students who are enrolled in programs leading to graduate work in Astronomy. The value of the scholarship is $500.

References

  • Astronomy was Helen Hogg's lifetime work

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  • U.Toronto biography
  • Biography
  • Helen Sawyer Hogg Honored
  • Out of Old Books: Essays on the History of Astronomy by Helen Sawyer Hogg

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  • Oral History interview transcript with Helen Sawyer Hogg 17 August 1979, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
  • Bibliography from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • The San Diego Supercomputer Center Presents Women in Science, A Selection of 16 Significant Contributors
  • Helen Sawyer Hogg archival papers held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services

Further reading

Obituaries

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  • JAVSO 22 (1993) 83
  • JRASC 86 (1993) 351
  • PASP 105 (1993) 1369