Annie Jump Cannon

Annie Jump Cannon was an extraordinary American astronomer whose keen observational eye and legendary speed transformed stellar spectroscopy. Nearly deaf from scarlet fever as a young woman, Cannon studied physics and astronomy at Wellesley College and Radcliffe before joining the Harvard College Observatory's group of female computers in 1896.

Cannon synthesized competing classification schemes to devise the universally adopted Harvard Spectral Classification system, grouping stars into spectral classes based on surface temperatures: O, B, A, F, G, K, M (famously remembered via the mnemonic 'Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me'). Working with immense focus, Cannon classified stellar spectra at an astounding rate of up to three stars per minute, manually classifying over 350,000 stars in the Henry Draper Catalogue. She was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate in science from Oxford University and was appointed William C. Bond Astronomer at Harvard.