LIFE
and STUDIES
Maria
Kirch is known as of the first famous
astronomers of her time.
With over 25 years of education and work in the field. At this time
period, Maria met resistance from the German academic field. She is
most famous for being the first woman to discover a comet in 1702.
Kirch is also known for compiling data for calendars. Kirch had several
independent publications of the many hours and days of observations of
the night sky. Unfortunately, she was not credited for all the major
contributions she made to the field of Astronomy.
Maria Kirch was born in 1670 in a
small town in Germany. Her father, a
Lutheran minister, began teaching Maria at a very young age. He
believed that she deserved the equivalent teachings and learning that
of young boys of her time. Once her father passed on her uncle took
over her education. While at her uncle’s farm she met one of the most
prominent astronomers on Germany at that time. His name was Gottfried
Kirch. Even though he was 30 years older than her, they were married in
1692 and later had three children together. All three of her children
followed in their parents footsteps and studied astronomy.
DISCOVERIES
and CONTRIBUTIONS
Kirch’s husband, Gottfried,
was an astronomer at the Berlin
Academy of
Sciences. Both Kirch and her husband observed the night sky, either
together or separate. The data Kirch collected for her calendars became
a major source of income for the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Kirch was
also involved in keeping records and making predictions of the weather.
Not only was she an astronomer she was also acting as a meteorologist
to the academy.
Comets were great discoveries in
the time of the Kirch’s. Maria Kirch
discovered a new comet in 1702, but was not recognized for the
discovery until a later time. Maria wrote up her observations of the
comet in a report, along with observations her husband made of the same
comet. Once the news traveled of the newly discovered comet, all
recognition was given to Gottfried. At first Gottfried did not bother
that his wife was given no recognition for the comet, but after a time
he admitted to himself that it would be appropriate to acknowledge his
wife for the discovery. This was not a quick feeling of guilt on
Gottfried, it took eight years and a reprint of the comet into the
first volume of the journal of the Berlin Academy that Maria Kirch was
given the credit she deserved. Unfortunately, the comet was never named
after her and it ended up that she never received the proper
acknowledgment and credit for her discovery.
Because of her lack of
proficiency in Latin, she was unable to publish
her works in Germany’s only scientific journal of her time. Between
1709 and 1711, Kirch published three pamphlets in German and in her own
name. Kirch’s most popular published works focused on planets and
predictions of new comets.
CONTINUED
WORK
Gottfried died in 1710,
which left his position at the academy
open to
be filled. Kirch was the most qualified for the position, but due to
the fact that she was a woman kept her and her son from continuing
their observations and teachings of astronomy. The academy would not
even accept her son Christfried filling his father’s position with
Kirch along his side. It is noted that at this time, astronomy was
still considered somewhat of a craft and the traditional notion was for
the widow to take the place of her husband after his death. The academy
was afraid they would present certain precedence and would be
criticized if they were to appoint a woman. The academy allowed her to
stay in the home she had been living in with her family, but she was
not granted any kind of salary, but later that same year they presented
her with a medal. Kirch had one major supporter, but no matter the
amount of hard work and proof of her intelligence, she was still
recognized as Gottfried’s wife, his astronomy assistant. Kirch is known
to have stated this in a
preface she wrote during her time, the “female sex as well as the male
possesses talents of mind and spirit… [a woman can be] as skilled as a
man at observing and understanding the skies.” Kirch witnessed first
hand what some women still face in today’s society…a less qualified and
incompetent male is appointed to a position, they take advantage of
your knowledge and expertise just to get a head of the game.
In 1712, Kirch moved on with her
life to the private Berlin observatory
of Baron Bernhard Frederick von Krosigk. She continued to make
observations and publish reports. Kirch made sure that her family was
well taken care of, and she did this by herself. She made a healthy
living with continued her work by doing calendars. In 1716 with an
invitation from Peter the Great of Russia, Kirch was asked to come work
in Moscow, but decided to stay in Berlin, where her son Christfried,
was appointed astronomer at the academy. To her advantage her son was
not qualified for the position, so Kirch stayed along side her son as
his assistant. In 1717, the academy felt that Kirch was over-stepping
her boundaries with the public at the observatory and was asked to
leave her house. Kirch was forced to leave the field of astronomer for
good.
Maria Kirch was quite famous in
her time, but because she was a woman
in the sciences she was looked at and treated differently than the men
of her time. This enabled her to publish and receive complete
recognition for her discoveries and knowledge she attain from her many
nightly observations of the sky. It is said that after her son died in
1740, her two daughters, who were Christfried’s assistants, continued
to work in astronomy, but after the death of Christine no other woman
scientists appointed at the Berlin academy until the twentieth century.
Primary
Source:
- Schiebinger,
Londa. The Mind
Has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1989.
Secondary
Source:
- Proffitt,
Pamela. Notable Women Scientists. Gale Group:
Detroit, 1999, pgs. 290-291.
--In the primary source,
Kirch was well aware of her own discriminations against her becasue she
was a woman. This gave way to a great
interpretaion of the research for this
episode and the overall context of the web project. I think the
quote I included in my research says it all for
the reason why I chose to
research the topin of women in the science, or more specifically women
in the history of science. The secondary source
gave me some general
information of her life and education. Events in her life played a
major part in Kirch's research and whether she was
recognized for her contributions.
