This is an artist's picture of the Harvard Observatory placed on the background of a bunch of novae. Novae are the stars that Fleming discovered.
Click on image for full size
Windows to the Universe original image
Williamina Fleming
Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was a Scottish-American astronomer who lived
from 1857-1911. She discovered 10 of the 24 novae then known. Novae are
stars that suddenly increase their brightness then fade to their former
dimness over a period of months or years.
She also discovered over 200 variable stars. Variable stars are those that
change in light intensity over time. Fleming worked at the Harvard Observatory
for many years.
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Learn about Earth and space science, and have fun while doing it! The
games section of our
online store includes a
climate change card game and the
Traveling Nitrogen game!
You might also be interested in:
How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.
...more
Stars don't last forever. Occasionally, a star bigger than our Sun will end its life in a huge explosion, called a supernova. This explosion happens because the center, or core, of the star collapses
...more
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born in Massachusetts in 1868. She became interested in astronomy in college. Unfortunately, she got sick after her graduation from college. She did recover from her sickness,
...more
Florence Bascom was one of the first female geologists in the United States and her fellow scientists thought she was one of the nation’s most important geologists. She lived from 1862 until 1945 and
...more
Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who lived between 1885-1962. He investigated atomic structure, modifying Rutherford's old model of an atom. Bohr also claimed that an atom's chemical properties are determined
...more
Marie Curie was a physicist and chemist who lived between 1867-1934. She contributed greatly to our understanding of radioactivity and the effects of x-rays. She was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw,
...more
Albert Einstein was a German physicist who lived between 1879-1955. Probably the most well-known scientist of the twentieth century, Einstein came up with many original theories and invented modern physics.
...more
Robert Goddard was an American physicist who lived between 1882-1945. He was a pioneer of modern rocketry who discovered that liquid fuel is more efficient than solid fuel. Although Goddard's first rocket
...more
