Biography Edward Charles Pickering

Edward Charles Pickering was an American astronomer and physicist. Pickering was born on July 19, 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts where he spent nearly all of his childhood. He attended Boston Latin School and then went on to receive his B.S. degree at Harvard University, graduating in 1865. In 1867, Pickering became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and held that position for ten years.  In 1876 he was given the position of professor of astronomy and director of the Harvard College observatory. He helped construct the first first student observatory where students were required to log obervations and make measurements. This observatory had one telescope that was dedicated to stellar photometry. That same year he co-founded the Appalachian Mountain Club, one of the United States’ oldest outdoor groups. Pickering was the director of the observatory for 42 years during which time he and his staff observed more than 45,000 stars. Pickering assembled a group of women that would help him with this observations. These women would later become reknowned for their achievements. They included Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta S. Leavitt, Williamina P. Fleming, and Antonia Maury. These women became popularly known in the scientific community as “Pickering’s Harem.” One of his big contributions in the field of astronomy  was the construction of the meridean photometer. This machine basicalle took two stars in the night sky  and took an image of them. Then this image was later used to compare the brightness of these stars with another group of northen stars.  Much of the data collected from this device was used to compile another catalogue entitled Harvard Photometry. He also established an observatory in Arequipa, Peru in 1891, where he collected data of southern stars that he combined with the data collected in Massachusetts. From this data, he published the first all-sky photographic map. there have been 75000 photographs that have been captured by this observatory. Pickering and Hermann Carl Vogel both independently discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. Pickering also discovered a new series of spectral lines that were formed because of the natural ionization of helium. In 1911 alongside william olcott Pickering established a group that encouraged amateur astronomer to continue in this science. This group was called the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Edward Pickering died at Harvard on February 3rd, 1919.