21st May 1911
Williamina Fleming dies in Boston
Williamina Fleming was born in Dundee in 1857 and emigrated to the United States, with her husband, aged 21. When she and her husband separated very soon after their arrival in Boston, she found work as a maid to the director of Harvard College Observatory. He later employed her at the Observatory where she classified and catalogued stars and other astronomical objects.
As part of this work, Fleming made several notable discoveries, of which the most significant were the Horsehead Nebula and the first White Dwarf.
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