​"We especially need imagination in science."

Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

• ASTRONOMER
  
• FIRST professional female astronomer in the U.S.
• Won a gold medal from the king of Denmark by discovering C/1847 T1, now known as Miss Mitchell's Comet, the FIRST comet to be found with a telescope
• FIRST woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and several other science academies
• Hired as a celestial observer by the Coastal Service in 1849, becoming the FIRST female professional to work for the United States government
• Cofounded the astronomy department at Vassar College, then demanded -- and received -- a pay raise when she found out her male coworkers were being paid more than her
• Boycotted cotton clothes to protest slavery
• Passionate suffragist and cofounder of the Association for the Advancement of Women

Bibliography: Diehn, Andi. Technology: Cool Women Who Code. Montmagny: Nomad Press, 2015. Print.
Doyle, Caitlin. Girls Can Do Anything: From Sports to Innovation, Art to Politics, Meet Over 200 Women Who Got There First. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2016. Print.
Shen, Ann. Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2016. Print.

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