富尔茨 扫现天空的人：玛丽亚・米切尔

　　作为2009国际天文年的其中一个基础项目,“她是天文学家”(She is an Astronomer: breaking down misconceptions)致力于推动天文学领域的性别平等。一直以来,女性天文学家对天文学作出了极大贡献,然而为人熟知的少之又少。在她们当中最不可忽略的当数美国第一位女性天文学家玛丽亚・米切尔。可以说,现今有许多女性活跃于美国天文界,或多或少要归功于这位长期投身于天文事业的女性。
　　
　　October 1st, 1847
　　In 1847, 29-year-old Maria Mitchell stood on the roof of her parents’ Nantucket home, focusing her telescope on a faraway star. Suddenly she realized that the blurry light was not a star at all, but a comet.
　　The first person to record a comet sighting, she immediately captured the imagination of America and of the world. In 1865, she was appointed the first professor at the newly founded Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She would live, study, and teach there for the next 23 years. Aware of her status as a pioneer woman scientist, Maria Mitchell became an active supporter of the woman’s rights movement. She continued her astronomical research until her death in 1888.
　　
　　1847年10月1日
　　1847年,29岁的玛丽亚・米切尔站在位于(美国马萨诸塞州)楠塔基特岛的父母家的天台上,用望远镜注视着一颗遥远的星星。突然,她发现那点模糊的光根本不是一颗星星,而是一颗彗星。作为第一个写下彗星目击记录的人,玛丽亚・米切尔立刻引起了美国以及全世界的关注。1865年,她被任命为纽约州波基普西市新成立的瓦萨学院的第一位教授。在接下来的23年里,她会在那里生活、学习和任教。玛丽亚・米切尔意识到自己是女性科学家的先驱者,积极地支持女权运动。直到1888年去世为止,她一直坚持不懈地进行天文学研究。
　　
　　The evening of October 1st, 1847 began as most evenings did for Maria Mitchell. From the small
　　1)observatory on the roof of her home in Nantucket, the 2)amateur astronomer “swept” the night sky, as was her habit, searching for anything new or different.
　　At 10:30 that night, Maria spotted a blurry, 3)fuzzy body in the upper right hand corner of her telescope’s field.
　　She ran downstairs to tell her father, a cashier at the Nantucket Pacific Bank and a skilled amateur astronomer himself. William Mitchell followed his daughter to the rooftop, where he carefully compared the small object in the telescope with the stars near it and the 4)chart on the table. He confirmed what Maria had 5)suspected: she had discovered a comet.
　　Once reported to and 6)acknowledged by leading astronomers, the comet was named in her honor, 7)propelling her to the forefront of 8)contemporary
　　astronomy and changing the course of her life dramatically. Almost overnight, she was transformed from a bookish librarian and amateur 9)stargazer into “the Lady Astronomer,” a 10)quasi-celebrity whose story was told and retold in newspapers across America.
　　The discovery of a comet was not a particularly unusual event in the 19th century, but female astronomers were very rare, and Maria Mitchell captured the public’s imagination. Frederic Ⅶ, the King of Denmark, presented her with a gold medal to honor her achievement. She was the first woman elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848 and the first 11)admitted to the Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850.
　　Maria Mitchell’s achievement would not have surprised her parents. Born in Nantucket on August 1st, 1818, the third of ten children, she 12)demonstrated from a young age both a love of stars and a talent for mathematics. Recognizing his daughter’s talent, her father gave her the best scientific education he could.
　　In 1836, Maria went to work as the librarian at the newly opened Nantucket 13)Atheneum, a position
　　she would hold for the next 20 years. She 14)took
　　advantage of the institution’s collections to give herself the 15)equivalent of a college education; she taught herself mathematics, including 16)calculus, and the most advanced astronomy of her day. Her
　　discovery of the comet was due as much to the years she spent studying in the atheneum and working with her father’s telescope as it was to good luck.
　　In 1862 she was invited to join the 17)faculty of Vassar Female College, the first college in the country exclusively for women. Backed by wealthy 18)brewer Matthew Vassar, the institution was still in the early stages of development. Vassar decided that Maria Mitchell should serve as the college’s first professor of astronomy. He was especially eager to add a woman to the faculty. “My desire is now and always has been,” he wrote in 1864, “to make our college, not only a college to educate women, but a college of instruction by women.” The Civil War 19)delayed construction. Vassar did not admit its first students until September 1865.
　　Vassar provided Mitchell with a brand-new, 20)state-of-the-art observatory. She became known as an 21)exacting teacher who insisted on 22)accuracy. She was impatient with even the slightest carelessness, often 23)lecturing students for 24)ignoring one-hundredth of a second in an astronomical calculation. Yet Maria Mitchell inspired great respect in her students, some of whom discovered comets and 25)nebulas themselves.
　　Mitchell understood the significance of her position as a pioneer in women’s education and became an 26)advocate for woman’s rights. She once said, “I wish, we could give to every woman who has a 27)novel theory dear to her soul for the improvement of the world, a chance to work out her theory in real life.” In 1875, she was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Women.
　　Poor health forced Mitchell to 28)resign from Vassar in 1888 at the age of 70. She moved to Lynn and attempted to continue her research there, but the observatory she had constructed was more of a 29)morale 30)booster than anything else. Her condition quickly 31)deteriorated, and she died on June 28th, 1889.
　　
　　1847年10月1日,对玛丽亚・米切尔而言,夜晚一如往常地降临。其位于楠塔基特岛的家里的天台上有一座小小的天文台;从这里“扫视”夜空是这位业余天文爱好者的习惯,她期待发现一些没见过或不同寻常的东西。那天晚上10点30分,玛丽亚在望远镜视野区域的右上角发现了一个模糊不清的
　　物体。
　　她跑下楼去告诉父亲。她的父亲
　　威廉・米切尔是楠塔基特太平洋银行的一名出纳员,本身也是一位资深的业余天文爱好者。威廉跟着女儿来到天台,一边仔细比较望远镜里的这颗细小物体与附近的星星有什么不同,一边对照桌上的星空图。他肯定了玛丽亚的猜测:她刚刚发现了一颗
　　彗星。
　　在向权威天文学家报告并获得承认之后,这颗彗星以她的名字命名。这一下子把她推到了当时天文学界的最前沿,并从此大大改变了她的人生。几乎一夜之间,她从一名书呆子气的图书管理员和业余观星者摇身一变,成了“天文学家女士”这样的准名人,她的故事被美国各地的报纸争相报导。
　　其实在19世纪,发现彗星并非一件不同寻常的事情,但由于女性天文学家屈指可数,玛丽亚・米切尔便一下子激起了大众的诸多猜测。丹麦国王弗雷德里克七世还为她颁发了一枚金牌,以纪念她的成就。1848年,她成为入选美国艺术与科学学院的第一名女性成员;继而在1850年,她成为进入美国科学促进协会的首位
　　女性。
　　玛丽亚・米切尔的成就并没有出乎其父母的预料。1818年8月1日,她出生于楠塔基特岛,在家中十个孩子里排行第三,从小就流露出对星星的热爱以及数学天赋。她的父亲发现了女儿的天分,于是竭尽所能为她提供最好的科学教育。
　　1836年,玛丽亚开始在新开的楠塔基特图书馆当图书管理员,并在这个岗位上工作了20年。利用图书馆的藏书,她自学了相当于大学水平的教育;她自学数学,当中包括微积分和当时最先进的天文学知识。她能够发现彗星,虽然不乏运气,但也离不开多年来在图书馆的自学以及用父亲的望远镜进行的长期观察。
　　1862年,她受邀加入瓦萨女子学院。这是美国第一所只招收女学生的学院,由富有的啤酒制造商马修・瓦萨赞助。当时这所学院还处于发展初期,瓦萨决定由玛丽亚・米
　　切尔担任学院的第一位天文学教授。他特别希望能够为教职人员队伍引入一名女性。“我现在,以及一贯以来的愿望,”他在1864年写道,“就是让我们的学院不仅能成为一所教育女性的学院,而且还是由女性来执教的学院。”然而,美国内战推迟了学院的建设。直到1865年9月,瓦萨学院才开始接收第一批学生。
　　瓦萨为米切尔提供了当时最先进的崭新天文台。米切尔坚持强调准确性,成为有名的严师。即便是最细微的粗心也会令她失去耐性,还经常为在天文计算中忽略了百分之一秒的误差而训诫学生。虽然如此,学生们对玛丽亚・米切尔仍然怀有极大的敬意,当中一些也成为了彗星和星云的发现者。
　　米切尔知道自己作为女性教育先驱者这一身份的意义,成为了女性权利的倡议者。她曾经说过:“一些女性真挚恳切地怀抱一个改善世界的新奇理论,我希望我们能给每一位这样的女性一个机会,让她能够在现实中将其理论付诸实践。”1875年,她当选为美国妇女进步协会的主席。
　　1888年,恶劣的健康状况迫使年届七十的米切尔从瓦萨学院退休。她随后搬到林恩,打算在那里继续其研究,然而她在那里建造的天文台只不过是一个振奋士气的产物。她的健康状况迅速恶化,于1889年6月28日逝世。