The Muse Urania has long personified astronomy, appearing in books and on maps as an elegant symbol for celestial science. Dressed in flowing, starry robes and surrounded by instruments, scientific diagrams, and portraits of important historical men, she imparts a womanly presence to what has been, until recent decades, a male-dominated field.

Yet as early as the 17th century, women have broken this gender boundary. This exhibit shows how a variety of determined women excelled in this masculine world, frequently assisted by sympathetic fathers, husbands, and brothers. Women often began their astronomy careers as research assistants and tutors, and their published contributions range from popular works for children to highly technical studies of significant scholarly importance. By the mid-eighteenth century, books designed specifically for women began to widen the acceptance of female astronomical instruction. A century after that, women entered college for formal scientific education in ever-greater numbers.

Please continue through the Universe in Your Hands exhibit to see two other cases on this special topic. In these exhibit cases, you can see historical artifacts that had women as astronomers, artists, publishers, and patrons.

Here you will find treasures on display in Urania's Daughters and other materials from the Adler's collection. This exhibit is part of the Adler's Special Topics in the History of Astronomy exhibit series, and was curated by Anna Friedman from the Adler's History of Astronomy Department.

In 1663, when she was just sixteen, Elisabetha Koopman became the second wife of astronomer Johannes Hevelius, thirty-five years her elder. She had a passion for astronomy and quickly became his assistant. After her husband died in 1687, she completed his final project.

This astronomical chart includes an image of the Muse Urania on bottom right corner.

A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences...
London, 1797