The Biography of Dorothea Klumpke Roberts - Matthew Lawlor

Early Life: Dorothea Klumpke Roberts was born August 9, 1861 in San Francisco, California. Her father came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush and was also a successful realtor. She was one of four daughters and two sons. Dorothea studied at the University of Paris and received a PhD of Astronomy. In 1887 she began work for the Paris Observatory where she worked with other leading astronomers of her time. Here she began observing minor planets (asteroids), along with the measuring of star positions, processing astrophotographs, studying stellar spectra. Contribution to Astronomy: Dorothea Klumpke Roberts is best known for her work with astrophotography and he measurements of asteroid positions and movements. Dorothea’s work led to the Carte du Ciel project which required photographing the entire sky. Dorothea was able to contribute and her photography tables were able to show stars and stellar objects as faint as the 14th magnitude. Her work and her ferocious reputation secured the post of Director of the Bureau of Measurements at the Paris Observatory despite being a woman in the face of fierce competition from fifty men. Through this position she was able to take photographs of many, if not all of the fifty two m objects at the time. She later wrote many papers which included her m objects with Isaac Newton’s notes. For this she was awarded the Hèléne-Paul Helbronner prize in 1932 from the French Academy of Sciences for this publication. Legacy She was the first recipient of the "Prix de Dames" from the Sociétié des Astronomique de France in 1889, and in 1893 was made an Officer d'Académe of the French Academy of Sciences - up to that time, these honors had not been awarded to a woman. Her main subjects of influence were mathematics and mathematical astronomy; her work influenced many later astronomers. There are two asteroids named in her honor.