A photo of Maria, seated far left, and her students preparing to observe a solar eclipse in Denver, Colorado. July 21,1878. Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Vassar College.
Employment at Vassar College
Maria Mitchell was asked by Matthew Vassar to be the astronomy professor, at the all female Vassar College, due to her comet discovery. Her employment broke barriers by showing society that women could become university level professors in scientific fields.
Teaching Style
Maria Mitchell's teaching style was unique and provided a feminine touch to the world of academia. She didn't give her students grades and never lectured in front of the class, instead her students gained hands-on experience in astronomy.
A photo of Maria Mitchell and her first class of astronomy students. 1866. Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Vassar College.
"As a teacher, Miss Mitchell's gift was that of stimulus, not that of drill. She could not drill; she would not drive. But no honest student could escape the pressure of her strong will and earnest intent. The marking system she held in contempt, and wished to have nothing to do with it. 'You cannot mark a human mind,' she said, 'because there is no intellectual unit'..."
- A student of Maria Mitchell on her teaching style.
"But as her classroom was unique, having something of home in its belongings, so its atmosphere differed from that of all others. Anxiety and nervous strain were left outside of the door. Perhaps one clue to her influence may be found in her remark to the senior class in astronomy when '76 entered upon its last year: 'We are women studying together.'"
- A student of Maria Mitchell's on her teaching style.
Scientific Work at Vassar
While teaching at Vassar, Maria Mitchell and her students did various astronomical research. They traveled to observe eclipses, were the first scientists to photograph daily sunspots, and took photos of the rare transit of Venus.
"In February, 1831, I counted seconds for father, who observed the annular eclipse at Nantucket. I was twelve and a half years old. In 1885, fifty-four years later, I counted seconds for a class of students at Vassar; it was the same eclipse, but the sun was only about half-covered. Both days were perfectly clear and cold." - An excerpt from Maria's journal.
A photo of sunspots taken by Maria Mitchell's students. June 8, 1885. Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Vassar College
A photo of the telescope used by Maria Mitchell and her students at Vassar College. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
A photo of the transit of Venus taken by Maria Mitchell's students. Circa December 1872. Courtesy of Williams College