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What lady would take mathematics
instead of Latin?

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Nancy Grace Roman, “The Mother
of Hubble,” NASA’s First Chief
of Astronomy

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The idea of Hubble was something
that was among the astronomical

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community for generations. It
was not something that was new.

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Astronomers badly wanted a large
telescope above the atmosphere.

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Well I decided that if the
aerospace companies were going

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to put a lot of money into
designing a telescope, they

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might as well design one that
made sense. So what I did was to

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bring together a collection of
astronomers from all over the

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country trying to represent a
variety of things that we might

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do with the telescope and some
NASA engineers and get them to

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sit down together and come up
with something that the

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engineers thought would work and
that the astronomers thought

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would do their job.

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Becoming an Astronomer 

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Well I think I've

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always been curious. I just
wanted to satisfy my curiosity,

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and astronomy in particular was
a subject I wanted to learn more

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about. I blamed my mother,
because she used to take me out

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to show me the constellations
and show me the northern lights

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and things like that. I just was
fascinated. Between 5th and 6th

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grade I organized my friends
into an astronomy club to study

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the constellations, and by 7th
grade I decided I wanted to be

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an astronomer, and I was going
to try for it. I knew it was

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going to take me another 12
years of schooling, but I

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figured I’d try, and if I didn’t
make it I could teach physics or

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math in high school. I certainly
did not receive any

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encouragement. I was told from
the beginning that women could

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not be scientists. In high
school one of the experiences I

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remember is that I asked my
guidance counselor for

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permission to take a second year
of algebra instead of a fifth

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year of Latin. And she looked
down her nose and sneered, “What

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lady would take mathematics
instead of Latin?” The first

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encouragement I got was in my
junior year at college when the

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head of the physics department
came up to me in lab one day and

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said, “You know, I usually try
to talk women out of going into

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physics, but I think maybe, you
might make it.” My main

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astronomical research area when
I started out was what they call

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spectral classification. Looking
at the stars spreading the light

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out into a rainbow, so that you
could see the different colors

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separately. What I started out
doing was looking at these

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spectra, looking at these
rainbows, and deciding the

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temperature and the brightness
of the stars, and then I was

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trying to find out how far away
they were and how they moved. My

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thesis professor was someone I
often didn’t get the support I

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expected. There was a period of
six months he went without

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speaking to me even when I said
hello to him in the hall. He

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didn’t want to have anything to
do with me.

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Becoming NASA's First Chief of
Astronomy

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I didn’t think I could get
tenure

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as a research astronomer. I
didn’t think I could stay in the

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academic community, because I
looked around and I think there

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was one other woman in astronomy
who had tenure in this country.

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But I saw very senior women who
didn’t have it. When NASA came

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along and offered me a job I
decided to take it. I started at

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NASA in 1959, it was six months
old. When I joined the

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government, I was hired as a
fresh PhD in spite of the fact

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that I had not only six years of
experience but an international

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reputation. And afterwards I
understood the reason. My salary

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at the university was so low
that civil service did not

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recognize it as a professional
experience. Being the first

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executive woman at NASA turned
out to be not terribly eventful.

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I was accepted very readily as a
scientist in my job and the men

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were very cooperative. I felt
that the men treated me as one

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of the team without a problem.
Civil service had rewards for

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outstanding work, but they were
limited to men. Someone decided

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there should be something for
women. In 1962, I received the

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Federal Women’s Award. We all
met with Kennedy in the course

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of receiving the award. 

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Women in Astronomy

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I'm happy about the

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fact that women can get senior
jobs now, and they’re not being

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quite as discouraged as I was.
But I think there are two things

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that I would like to see
changed: one is salaries.

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Salaries are still not equal.
And the other thing is I would

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like to see more uniform women
across the ranks. Women can get

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into senior positions in
astronomy now, but percentage

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wise there are still few at the
high levels.

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Nancy's Legacy

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It's hard to decide how history
will view my accomplishments.

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People generally aren’t terribly
interested in what gets things

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started. And so I’m not sure
they’re going to have much of an

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idea of my role. [music ends]
www.nasa.gov/hubble @NASAHubble

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[music ends]

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www.nasa.gov/hubble
@NASAHubble

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[satellite swooshes by, beep
beep, beep beep, beep beep]

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NASA Goddard Space Fight Center
www.nasa.gov/goddard