Role Model of the Week: The Tale of The First Recorded Woman in History who was an Astronomer
In the realm of celestial events, few phenomena capture the human imagination quite like solar eclipses. These rare occurrences, where the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, temporarily cloaking daylight in an eerie twilight, have fascinated societies for millennia. Today, as we witness yet another marvel of a solar eclipse, it's a moment to reflect on the legacy of one of the earliest known astronomers, a pioneer who once predicted these very events—Aglaonice of Thessaly. In our modern-day world, predicting an eclipse is a simple task that can be programmed into computer software. But before the invention of technology, computers and self-driving cars, women like Aglaonike studied the complexity of the skies and mapped them out accurately.
Algaonike: The Witch of Thessaly
What is an Eclipse?
To fully take in how amazing Aglaonice’s accomplishment was, let us dive a little deeper into the fascinating topic of how an eclipse happens. It’s the spinning, it all comes down to the spinning! Many large objects in our surrounding space are constantly spinning, including the Earth itself.
The Moon orbits the Earth, the Earth orbits the Sun with seven other planets, and the Sun orbits around the Milky Way. For an eclipse to occur one of two things must happen while all of these large spheres are moving.
Who Was Aglaonice?
Aglaonice, often hailed as the first female astronomer in Greece, lived around 2nd century BC. Her story is woven with the threads of myth and reality, a testament to her profound impact on the world of astronomy.
It was said that she could "charm the moon out of the sky," a poetic way of acknowledging her expertise in predicting lunar eclipses. This remarkable ability, in a time when the night sky held as much mystery as it did terror for the unknown, marked her as a figure of both awe and suspicion.
At a time when women were rarely allowed to own land, there was little incentive or opportunity for a young girl to learn about the movement of the planets and stars above her which makes her story even more compelling. This week’s blog is an appreciation for all the wonderful feats Aglaonice accomplished and the legacy she left as one of the first female astronomers.
A Tribute to Aglaonice’s Incredible Observation of Natural Phenomena
To convince an entire village of people that she controlled the moon, Aglaonice would have had to know precisely when the eclipse would happen and exactly where it would be visible to everyone. In addition to the location of the eclipse, Aglaonice would have needed to be aware of how rare total eclipses truly are. The reason for the rarity of these occurrences again has to do with all that spinning.
The moon's orbit is actually tilted with respect to the Earth's orbit. This means the moon could either pass below or above the Earth and Aglaonice would have needed to know that. Celestial bodies in outer space literally need to align for an eclipse to occur, making Aglaonice’s knowledge a feat of science for the time she lived in.
She would have needed a way to document the ever-changing perceptions that are involved with tracing the velocity, position and patterns of large-scale objects in motion. She would need maps, tables and star charts to accomplish many of these things. The sheer volume of information Aglaonice would have had to recall is amazing and hints at some form of data collection or note-taking on her part. Women had few rights at the time and were not allowed in school, making her accomplishments even more incredible!
Women in the Stars: The Legacy Continues
Aglaonice’s story has now faded into folklore with Plato referring to her as “the Thessalian enchantress, who as they say, brought down the moon from heaven at the risk of their own perdition.:” The only two true accounts of her life and parents can be taken from Plutarch and a scholar of Appolonios of Rhodes who both spoke of her as a sorceress. However, she left a legacy that changed the lives of many women today.
The tale of Aglaonice serves as a prelude to the symphony of women who have since carved their careers in astronomy. From Hypatia of Alexandria, who met a tragic end for her beliefs and teachings, to the modern pioneers like Vera Rubin, whose work on galaxy rotation rates provided key evidence for dark matter, women have continued to push the boundaries of space science.
Think of Katherine Johnson, a name synonymous with pioneering spirit and mathematical brilliance who forever altered the trajectory of space exploration and carved an indelible path for Black women in the realms of astronomy and STEM. As a mathematician at NASA, Katherine’s contributions were pivotal in the success of several key missions, including the first American manned spaceflight by Alan Shepard, and the iconic Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. Johnson's extraordinary ability to calculate complex flight trajectories by hand, at a time when computers were in their infancy, earned her the moniker of "human computer."
Conclusion
Amidst this week’s solar eclipse, we celebrate Aglaonice and other women’s astronomical achievements and recognize the broader narrative of women in STEM. The path has been long and fraught with challenges, yet the progress is undeniable. Initiatives aimed at encouraging girls and young women to pursue STEM careers are more critical than ever, ensuring diversity of thought and innovation in tackling the mysteries of the universe and beyond.
References:
Ogilvie, M. (1986). Women in science : Antiquity through the nineteenth century : A biographical dictionary with annotated bibliography. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.