08/23/2022
In 1876, she was appointed as the first professor of physics at Wellesley College, where she established the physics department. She began attended lectures given by Edward Charles Pickering at MIT, where she learned was inspired to establish an undergraduate experimental physics lab at Wellesley, the second of its kind in the US after the one at MIT.
Sarah Frances Whiting (August 23, 1847 – September 12, 1927) was an American physicist and astronomer. She was one of the founders and the first director of the Whitin Observatory at Wellesley College. She instructed several notable astronomers and physicists, including Annie Jump Cannon.
In 1876, she was appointed as the first professor of physics at Wellesley College, where she established the physics department. She began attended lectures given by Edward Charles Pickering at MIT, where she learned was inspired to establish an undergraduate experimental physics lab at Wellesley, the second of its kind in the US after the one at MIT.
Through a professional relationship with Pickering, she was able to learn about groundbreaking techniques in the study of astronomy, and brought those to her students at Wellesley, which included such notable astronomers as Annie Jump Cannon, Isabelle Stone and Louise Sherwood McDowell.
You can learn more about her work and legacy: https://scientificwomen.net/women/whiting-sarah_frances-92
You can find a copy of her essay 'Daytime and Evening Exercises in Astronomy, for Schools and Colleges' on the NWHA Bookshop page: https://bookshop.org/a/5044/9780342011612
