Elizabeth Langdon Williams

Elizabeth Langdon Williams (February 8, 1879 in Putnam, Connecticut – 1981 in Enfield, New Hampshire[1]) was an American human computer and astronomer whose work helped lead to the discovery of Pluto, or Planet X.

Elizabeth Langdon Williams
Born(1879-02-08)8 February 1879
Putnam, Connecticut, USA
Died1981 (aged 101–102)
Enfield, New Hampshire, USA
Other namesElizabeth Williams
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Known forCalculations to predict existence and location of Pluto
SpouseGeorge Hall Hamilton
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics, Astronomy, Physics
InstitutionsLowell Observatory, USA; Mandeville observatory, Jamaica
ThesisAn analytical study of the Fresnel wave-surface (1903)
Signature

Personal life and education

Elizabeth Langdon Williams was born to Elizabeth Brigham and Louis M. Williams on February 8, 1879 in Putnam, Connecticut. She was the twin of Robert Longfellow Williams, and the older sister of Henry Trumbell Williams and Ursula Louise Williams.[2][3] She graduated from MIT with a degree in physics in 1903 as one of their earliest female graduates, and was the first woman to play an honor part during graduation. She read part of her thesis, "An analytical study of the Fresnel wave-surface" at the ceremony, and was said to have widely impressed all in attendance. She was at the top of her class and said to be ambidextrous, writing cursive with her right hand and print with her left hand.[4][5] In 1922, Williams married George Hall Hamilton, another astronomer who was born in London on June 30, 1884 and educated at Cambridge. He worked at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he met Williams, from 1917 to 1922.[6]

Career

Williams was hired by Percival Lowell in 1905 to work from his State Street office in Boston.[2] She initially edited publications for Lowell[7] until she was asked to be a human computer for his Planet X research that began in 1910.

Planet X

Lowell hypothesized that a proposed Planet X affected the orbits of the known planets Neptune and Uranus.[8] Williams' role in the Planet X project was that of head human computer, performing mathematical calculations on where Lowell should search for an unknown object and its size based on the differences in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. Her calculations led to predictions for the location of the unknown planet, but Lowell died in 1916 and the project was discontinued. In the late 1920s, however, the project was resumed and Clyde Tombaugh was hired to lead it. Tombaugh used Lowell's predictions (built on Williams' calculations) to locate an image in a region of the sky photographed in 1915 that he identified as a new planet named Pluto in 1930.[9]

Williams continued to work on calculations and handled correspondence at Lowell Observatory after Lowell's death, moving from Boston to the observatory itself at Flagstaff in 1919.[1][10] She and Hamilton were then dismissed from their positions at the observatory by Percival Lowell's widow, Constance, because it was considered inappropriate to employ a married woman.[5] Williams and her husband were subsequently employed at an observatory in Mandeville, Jamaica run by Harvard College Observatory where they worked together.

Final years

In 1935, George Hall Hamilton died. Widowed, Williams retired from the observatory in Mandeville and moved to Lebanon, New Hampshire with her younger sister, Louise Ring, where they ran "Peaceful Acres," a summer retreat home. She died in 1981 in Enfield, New Hampshire at the age of 101.[4]

References
  1. Schindler, Kevin (2016), Lowell Observatory, Images of America, Arcadia Publishing, p. 63, ISBN 9781439655726
  2. Clark, Catherine (2020). "American Astronomical Society meeting #235: Elizabeth Williams and the Discovery of Pluto". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 52 (1). Bibcode:2020AAS...23518104C.
  3. White, Almira Larkin (1900). Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts: 1638-[1909] ... Chase brothers, printers.
  4. "Elizabeth Langdon Williams · Women in Astronomy · Lowell Observatory Archives". collectionslowellobservatory.omeka.net. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
  5. Bartels, Meghan. "Meet the unknown female mathematician whose calculations helped discover Pluto". Space.com. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  6. "1935PASP...47..332. Page 333". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
  7. Littmann, Mark (2004-01-01). Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-43602-9.
  8. Littmann, Mark (2004), Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System, Dover Books on Astronomy, Courier Corporation, p. 67, ISBN 9780486436029
  9. "Elizabeth Langdon Williams", Storied Women of MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  10. Putnam, William Lowell (2002), Percival Lowell's Big Red Car: The Tale of an Astronomer and a 1911 Stevens-Duryea, McFarland, p. 144, ISBN 9780786412341
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