Sarah

In 1876, Professor Sarah Francis Whiting was hired to establish the Physics and Astronomy Departments at Wellesley College.  “At that time there were few options for women to pursue higher education in the US, [so the institution was created] to provide women students and faculty with the same opportunities available to men.”  It was a worthy and pioneering “educational experiment”. Whiting undertook two years of training to prepare for the position, which included being the first women to attend Edward Pickering’s lectures at MIT.  His hands-on methodology and laboratory instruction greatly influenced Whiting’s curriculum.  

I was thrilled to discover Whiting’s achievements stunningly illustrated in a recent Physics Today piece. Professors Cameron and Musacchio provide important context:

Unfortunately, as women working in what was then very much a man’s field, Whiting and other female scientists had to deal with considerable prejudice and limited opportunities. Near the end of her career, she reflected on “the somewhat nerve-wearing experience of constantly being in places where a woman was not expected to be, and doing what women did not conventionally do.”

Some scientists took an enlightened approach to the presence of women in their ranks. In London, Whiting met Lord Kelvin; in a 1924 article for Science, she recalled being impressed when he was “neither surprised nor alarmed” by her gender.

But others were concerned about what might happen to their comfortable worlds if more women entered their fields. When Whiting met William Crookes in 1888, he reportedly mused, “What would become of the buttons and the breakfasts if all the ladies should know so much about spectroscopes?”

Having established the Physics Department and equipped it with a laboratory and instruments, Whiting was the first woman (and likely first person in an undergraduate laboratory) to replicate Wilhelm Röntgen’s discovery of x-rays in 1896.  She worked with students by her side to produce a series of glass plate exposures.  The originals did not survive, but photographs of them were recently found in a mislabeled box as part of a cataloging effort necessitated by an impending building demolition.  I was struck by the visual of the notably feminine items the team chose to x-ray: various pieces of delicate jewelry, including a heart pendant and a small key.  What an unmistakable thumbprint in science history!  

The two Wellesley professors who found the images thankfully understood the importance of sharing them with the world, so that we all may appreciate the trail blazers before us. They wrote, “The x-ray experiments were only one instance in which Whiting drew on her keen engagement with contemporary scientific advances to offer her students an experience available to few undergraduates at the time, and to almost no women. Throughout her long career, Whiting introduced thousands of women to physics and astronomy….”

As for her establishing the Astronomy Department, Whiting orchestrated the purchase of the Fitz/Clark 12-inch telescope, “considered the finest glass in the vicinity”, and the creation of a fine observatory to house it. With a generous gift from trustee Sarah E. Whitin (often cited by her husband’s name only as “Mrs. John C. Whitin” in many referenced/formal texts), “the new Observatory began to rise on one of Wellesley’s hills.” Mrs. Whitin stipulated the white marble, for white was symbolic of both their contributions (as well as the original owner of the telescope, Mr. White).  It is fitting that the exterior literally reflects their legacy today. 

Such specialized use makes for a specialized building. The original ropes and pulleys used to turn the 23 foot diameter dome are still in place and operational, although it was retrofitted with a motor for more precise placement and automated movement in the mid-1950’s.  Shortly after installation, the builder estimated that the dome’s weight was 15,100 pounds! A set of wooden steps on castors provide the height needed to reach the eyepiece. I’ll never forget the clear night my son and I looked at Saturn together through the antique refractor. Its silhouette glowed white against the black night and its rings were unmistakable. The stone course beneath the dome carries this motto: “Night unto night showeth knowledge.” The building was doubled in size just after five years to include a second telescope: a 6” refractor, also by Clark, its presence is obvious from the more modest dome atop. 

While Whitin Observatory is technically robust, it is also elegantly comfortable and even cozy. In a 1915 journal it was remarked, “The main laboratory is a large, many windowed room.  The generous fire-place with its buff brick chimney piece and blue Warsaw blue-stone shelf, the oak bookcase and richly colored Indian rug give it the air of a luxurious living room rather than a students’ work-room.”

The observatory remains as the link from past to future and the thread that ties Professor Sarah F. Whiting to tomorrow’s female scientists and leaders.  However, a century of service showed its signs. Many handsome details were overwhelmed or buried and by 2009, the place required attention.