7. ABILITY TO JUDGE – The Ability to Judge of Annie Jump Cannon
After years of studying physics and astronomy in school and becoming an expert photographer, one of Annie’s professors inspired Annie to learn about spectroscopy. Spectroscopy is the process of splitting light into a rainbow and studying it. When light travels through a prism — a triangular-shaped piece of glass — it gets broken up into a spectrum of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Just like each human has their own thumb print, each type of light has its own fingerprint, a spectrum of colors unique to it. Spectroscopy is the study and evaluation of these different spec- trums. One light type might have a lot of yellow and blue, and another might have less of both but more red and orange. The Sun’s spectrum is different than that of a candle, for example. (Does every genius have their own signature? Their own uniqueness? What is yours?).
In 1896, Annie took a position at the Harvard College Observatory. Here her love of stars, her experience as a photographer, and her knowledge of spec- troscopy all came together perfectly. She had found her dream job. For the next four decades, Annie was part of a team called the Harvard Computers, a group of brilliant women who shared the goal of mapping and classifying every star in the sky.
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