The women on the moon
More than 1600 craters on the moon have been named for famous scientists, philosophers and explorers. But among them, only 27 bear the names of women. Startled by this disparity, and by what it says about science and culture, Montreal artist Bettina Forget set about getting to know these craters better -- and the inspiring women they represent -- by hand drawing each one.
Nöther crater: A German-Jewish mathematician, considered the most important woman in the history of mathematics, Emmy Nöther (1882-1935) made key contributions to abstract algebra. Her work has proved essential for the development of fundamental physics and it continues to be applied in the 21st century.Bettina Forget
Blagg Crater: Mary Adela Blagg (1858-1944) was a British astronomer whose main contributions were standardizing the names of lunar features and her extensive observations of variable stars.Bettina Forget
Bok crater: Massachusetts-born Priscilla Fairfield Bok (1896-1975) was already an assistant professor when she met her future husband, Dutch astronomer Bart Bok, at a conference. So began a lifelong collaboration that would produce the definitive textbook on The Milky Way. The crater is named for both of the Boks.Bettina Forget
C. Herschel crater: Carolyn Herschel (1750-1848) was the sister and collaborator of Sir William Herschel, musician and astronomer who achieved worldwide fame when he discovered the planet Uranus. Like her brother, Carolyn was born in Hanover, Germany, and emigrated to England. She became an accomplished astronomer in her own right and is known for her discovery of several comets.Bettina Forget
Clerke crater: Born in Ireland, Agnes Mary Clerke (1842-1907) became a noted writer and historian of astronomy during the 19th century. She was one of a handful of women to be made an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society in Britain.Bettina Forget
Cori crater: Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori (1896-1957) was a Czech-American biochemist and the first woman to win the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for discovering a key metabolic pathway that allows the body to use and store energy.Bettina Forget
Earhart crater: Provisionally named after American aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937 while attempting a flight over the Pacific Ocean, this large but partially buried crater was recently discovered by scientists working with NASA’s GRAIL mission, a pair of orbiting satellites that detected the crater’s gravitational signature as they passed overhead.Bettina Forget
Flemming crater: When the director of the Harvard College observatory wanted to save money he hired his maid, Scottish-born Williamina Fleming (1857-1911) to work on stellar classification and perform mathematical calculations. She would go on oversee an entire team of female “computers” who would lay the groundwork for modern astrophysics.Bettina Forget
Hypatia crater: This unusually asymmetric crater is named after Hypathia of Alexandria, the mathematician and daughter of the philosopher Theon. Contemporary accounts say she was murdered by a Christian mob in the year 415.Bettina Forget
Kovalevskaya crater: Born in Moscow, Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850-1891) became one of the first female mathematicians to establish an academic career in the modern era. She made key contributions to mathematics of partial differential equations, among other areas.Bettina Forget
Leavitt crater: Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921) was one of the most celebrated of the women “computers” to work at Harvard College Observatory. She is credited with discovering a relationship between the brightness and period of a class of pulsating stars that would enable astronomers, for the first time, to measure the true size of the galaxy.Bettina Forget
Lepaute crater: Named for Nicole-Reine Lepaute (1723-1788), a French astronomers and mathematician who predicted the return of Halley’s Comet, worked out the exact timing of a solar eclipse in 1764 and made other calculations of importance to astronomers.Bettina Forget
Maunder crater: Born Annie Scott Dill Russell (1851-1928) she was recognized for her mathematical abilities and after graduating went to work at the Royal Greenwich Observatory where she studied sunspots. Public service rules required her to resign after marrying astronomer Walter Maunder but they continued to collaborate. Her observations were published under her husband’s name until she was made a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1916. She shares the crater name with her husband.Bettina Forget
Maury crater: Born in Cold Spring, New York, Antonia Maury (1866-1952) was the niece of Henry Draper, a major figure in American astronomy. Exposed to science at an early age she graduated from Vassar College and went to work at Harvard College Observatory where she published a catalogue of stellar spectra in 1897. The crater was first named for her cousin Matthew Fontaine Maury of the U.S. Naval Observatory but is now shared by both Maurys.Bettina Forget
McAuliffe crater: Named after Sharon Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986), schoolteacher and astronaut whose first flight ended in tragedy when the space shuttle Challenger was destroyed in an explosion seconds after launch in January 1986.Bettina Forget
Meitner crater: Born in Austria, Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was a pioneering nuclear physicist whose work led to the discovery of fission, the process underlying the atom bomb and nuclear energy. The first female full professor of physics in Germany, she fled to Sweden after anti-Jewish policies under the Nazi regime stripped her of her position.Bettina Forget
Proctor crater: Born in Dublin, Mary Proctor (1862-1957) emigrated to the United States and became a well known popularizer of astronomy, producing numerous articles and books over a writing career that spanned nearly half a century.Bettina Forget
Sheepshanks crater: Anne Sheepshanks (1789-1876) was a benefactor and sister of Richard Sheepshanks, a Fellow of the Royal Society and prominent astronomical editor. After his death she contributed a legacy to the Cambridge Observatory.Bettina Forget
Sklodovska crater: This large crater bears the maiden name of Marie Curie (1867-1934), the Polish-born physicist and chemist who pioneered the study of radioactivity and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (and the only person to win twice in different disciplines.)Bettina Forget
Somerville crater: Named after Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872), a Scottish writer and astronomer who had to do some of her early mathematical training in secret but whose work prompted a search for the planet Neptune. The term “scientist” was first coined by the Cambridge scholar William Whewell in a review of one of her books.Bettina Forget
Tereshkova crater: Born in 1937, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is the only living woman with a lunar crater named after her. An amateur skydiver, she was selected from among hundreds of applicants to become the first woman in space in the early days of the Soviet space program. She was launched in June 1963 and spent nearly three days in space.Bettina Forget
Resnik crater: Named for Judith Arlene Resnik (1949-1986), an American engineer and astronaut who was one of the crewmembers killed in the Challenger space shuttle disaster of January 1986.Bettina Forget
Cannon crater: Named for Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) who worked at Harvard College Observatory and classified more stars than anyone in history (about half a million). Her system of stellar classification is still used today.Bettina Forget
Jenkins crater: Named for Louise Freeland Jenkins (1888-1970), an American astronomer and staff member at Yale University Observatory who was known for her research on nearby stars.Bettina Forget
Mitchell crater: Nantucket-born Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) was an astronomical prodigy who at the age of 29 became the first person in North America to discover a comet. She later because the first appointed faculty member at Vassar College and trained a generation of pioneering women who would go on to make significant contributions to astronomy.Bettina Forget
Bruce crater: Catherine Wolfe Bruce (1816-1900), philanthropist and patron of astronomy. Between 1889 and 1899 she provided funding for major astronomical instruments at observatories in the U.S. and Germany.Bettina Forget
Catharina crater: The large crater is named for St. Catherine of Alexandria who was said to have a successfully debated an assembly of pagan philosophers and was condemned to torture and death by the Roman emperor Maxentius in the year 305.Bettina Forget