Dr. Charlotte Moore Sitterly (1898-1990)
East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Prominent authority on astronomy and author of more than one hundred books and articles, Sitterly was a career physicist with the Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce. She received the American Astronomical Society award in 1937 and was the first woman elected to the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain, 1949. Born here in Ercildoun, Dr. Sitterly was a lifelong Quaker and attended Fallowfield Friends Meeting nearby.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Born in the Quaker village of Ercildoun in Chester County, Charlotte Moore Sitterly became one of the leading physicists of her era. A career researcher with the U.S. Bureau of Standards, she authored more than a hundred books and articles and produced authoritative reference tables on the spectra of the sun and other elements. Honored by the American Astronomical Society in 1937, she became the first woman elected to Britain's Royal Astronomical Society in 1949.
Why it matters
Sitterly broke barriers for women in the physical sciences, and her meticulous spectral data became foundational tools for astronomers and physicists worldwide.
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Related people
- · Dr. Charlotte Moore Sitterly
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