Maria Mitchell

Maria Mitchell Julia Ward Howe / [Public Domain] via Wikimedia

Above is a quote from my hero, Maria Mitchell. I look up to her because she helped break boundaries for women not being able to do many of the things that men did and she was the first woman to become a professional astronomer. I look up to women who accomplish big goals like this. Women back then were considered useless. Maria had huge dreams of making a difference and making rights for women. In this essay I will prove to you that Maria is a hero because she never gave up, thought about others before herself and helped people not looking for an award or money. To me, that is a true hero.

All her life, Maria wanted to make a difference. She wanted to show people that women were as smart and sometimes smarter than men. She felt that women can do anything that men can and that women could make a difference in a positive way for the world. Maria was born on August 1, 1818. Her father was a well known astronomer, William Mitchell. Not many girls born in the 1800s were encouraged to have high education goals. Most did not attend school, but Maria's father encouraged her. Her father soon noticed that Maria had a talent for math and science. Her father was very pleased with his daughters intelligence. Maria's father did everything he could to strengthen her knowledge in these subjects. When Maria was sixteen, she was already a teaching assistant at a local school. This made her father very proud, but he wasn't planning for the legacy that Maria was soon to leave.

When Maria was seventeen, she decided to move out and create a school of her own. The school closed after a year when Maria was offered a job as a librarian. For Maria this job was perfect because she was making a good salary and a lot of time for reading and studying books, her favorite hobby. Maria's father also got a new job at the Pacific bank. It came with living quarters which had a beautiful home and Maria's father built a small deck on the roof for when he would study the stars for the United States Coast Guard. Maria would help her father with the measurements. One night, Maria was looking at the night sky when she saw a comet that she had never seen before. She had memorized the positions of all of the stars and she knew that this star was never there before. Maria soon realized that it was a comet. She took down the coordinates of the star and the next night and just like she had expected, the comet moved! Her father contacted the Professor at Harvard and sent a letter to the king of Denmark. The king had offered a gold medal to whoever found a shooting star through a telescope. Maria was awarded the medal and the comet was named "Miss Mitchell's Comet."

Maria continued to be a librarian until she was receiving letters of congratulations from many scientists that wanted to work with Maria. She was offered a job as a computer, which took down all the coordinates and information about the planets and stars. Maria did so well at this job that they kept her and she became the first woman to be a professional astronomer. In 1865, Maria became a professor at a new college she helped found. In 1973, she found the American Association for the Advancement of Women. She served as president from 1874-1876. This gave women the strength and courage to accomplish their dreams. In 1888, she retired. Because of poor health, Maria passed away on June 28, 1889 in Lynn, Massachusetts. Soon after Maria's death, her friends and supporters founded the Maria Mitchell Association on Nantucket in 1902. In 1905 she was elected to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans at New York University (now at Bronx Community College). In 1994, she was elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Although most women looked up to Maria and looked to her as a positive role model for women, many men at that time, did not feel the same way. Since Maria helped break boundaries for women not being able to do the same work as men did, this made many men furious. To them, women were just housewives, only good at cleaning, cooking, doing laundry and sewing. Women, in their perspective, couldn't and weren't capable of discovering things, running for president for organizations and clubs, and certainly not for the accomplishments Maria made. These men that were against Maria and they tried to get others to discourage her actions. Also, school wasn't given for girls and many fathers would discourage them from learning. Maria didn't let this stop her from learning and getting an education, also her father made sure that his daughter's intelligence would not go to waste.

Maria Mitchell definitely left a legacy behind that didn't just benefit women, but men also. If Maria wasn't strong, mentally, and didn't want to accomplish her dreams and let people tell her girls don't need an education, Maria would never had discovered that comet that later lead to her becoming the first professional astronomer and also her contributions to women’s rights. Women today wouldn't have the courage to try new things and make a difference. Most of us would be at home cooking and cleaning all day, while we would watch the men get an education and do what they want to do. If Maria didn't discover the comet, we may not know valuable information about space. Also, she opened a school to devote her time to learning and she educated not only women but children too. Her actions affected everyone and she is a huge part of women having rights today.