Why do we love Annie?

She was a star among stars. Annie Jump Cannon's father was a shipbuilder and state senator and her mother showed her the stars. As a student at Wellesley, she studied physics and astronomy, graduating in 1884. Following her mother's death in 1894, Annie returned to Wellesley as a physics teacher. In 1896 she joined "Pickering's Women," a group of women hired by Edward Pickering of the Harvard College Observatory who carried out astronomical calculations.

Before DOLs started cataloging their favorite stars, this Harvard astronomer became the world's expert in classifying the real deal. She assigned over a quarter million stars to their place in the great spectral catalog: the Henry Draper Catalog. Her Harvard classification is still used today, including her mnemonic device "Oh! Be A Fine Girl—Kiss Me!" to help remember the spectral classification system. Wonder which "star" she was thinking of....

Biography:

Born - December 11, 1863
Dover, Delaware
Died - April 13, 1941
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Achievements:

• Graduated from Wellesley College in 1884
• Received an M.A. from Wellesley College in 1907
• Became curator of the Harvard College Observatory in 1911 and received a permanent position there in 1938
• Received an honorary doctorate from the University of Delaware in 1918
• Was the first woman to receive a Doctor of Astronomy degree from Groningen University (1921)
• Voted one of the Twelve Greatest Living American women in 1923
• In 1925, became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Oxford University
• Received an honorary doctorate from Wellesley College in 1925
• First woman to receive the Draper Award from the National Academy of Sciences (1931)
• In her honor, The American Association of University Women presents the Annie J. Cannon Award each year to a woman beginning her astronomical career
• Developed the mnemonic device "Oh, Be A Fine Girl—Kiss Me!" used by students and astronomers to learn the spectral classification of stars