The Stars Belong to Everyone: Astronomer and Science Writer Helen Sawyer Hogg (1905-1993)

Volume 40 number 1 (2012)

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Maria J. Cahill

Edison State College, Humanities Building, L122D, 8099 College Parkway, Ft. Myers, FL 33919; mjcahill@edison.edu

Abstract

As a scientist and science educator, Helen Sawyer Hogg served astronomy, and especially variable star astronomy, in diverse ways while raising a family. Her long interest in and support of the AAVSO over many years took place in the context of not only that busy scientific and writing career, but also one of personal struggle to achieve parity as a female in a largely male profession. This biographical sketch demonstrates that her path to eventual status as “the Canadian face of astronomy” was both difficult and filled with uncertainty.