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The Brightest Stars: The Legacy of Cincinnati’s Women Astronomers

As the Birthplace of American Astronomy, the Cincinnati Observatory has been observing the stars for over 180 years. Yet, many of those stars, namely the women astronomers of the Observatory, have often been overlooked. Women like Louisa Trask Mitchel, who was likely the first American person to observe Neptune, to Antoinette Kettenacker, an accomplished mathematician who was published on her work with the computation of orbits. Numerous women have contributed to astronomy in Cincinnati in stellar ways. This trend continues with the Observatory’s current staff which includes its first female Executive Director and a majority female staff. 

Discover the legacy of women that have worked at the Observatory, in STEM fields locally and globally, and what the future of women in science looks like in an all new exhibit at the Cincinnati Observatory. The Brightest Stars: The Legacy of Cincinnati’s Women Astronomers is aimed at inspiring all to look to the stars in the past to shape those that will change the future. Cincinnati women have proved, and continue to prove, that science is, and always has been, for everyone.