Maria Teohari | |
|---|---|
 Maria Teohari | |
| Born | 22 April 1885 |
| Died | 1975 |
| Occupation | Astronomer |
| Parent |
|
Maria Teohari (Giurgiu, Romania, 22 April 1885 - Bucharest, 1975) is credited as the first female astronomer of Romania. She lost part of her eyesight from viewing the Sun through telescopes without adequate eye protection.
Teohari was born in 1885 as the eldest of three daughters of physician Christu Teohari and his wife Alexandrei. [1] [2]
Teohari started her formal schooling in Giurgiu but after her father's sudden death from infection, she and her mother assumed responsibility for supporting the family [2] According to Emil Păunescu, deputy director of the Giurgiu County Museum, [1]
"Doctor Teohari died from a finger bite that occurred at the hospital in Giurgiu during an operation. The wound became infected, and Dr. Teohari passed away leaving behind a widow with three children. As it was then, women were not working. They were housewives, so you realize how hard it was for a woman to grow up alone with three girls." [1]
The family moved to Bucharest where Maria Teohari continued her high school studies at the "Regina Elena" School (In Romanian, "Elena Doamna") and then at the Central School. The training she received there gave her substantial credentials in drawing, literature and languages, but her passions went in a completely different direction: astronomy. [1] [2]
On the initiative of Professor Nicolae Coculescu, founder of the Bucharest Astronomical Observatory, Teohari obtained a scholarship for student astronomers. Moving abroad for one year, she began her studies at the Faculty of Sciences with specializations at astronomical observatories in Paris and Nice, (three months at the Paris Observatory and nine months at the Nice Observatory). [3] There, she carried out observations of the Sun, small planets and asteroids. [1] [2]
In 1914, at the start of World War I, Teohari returned to Romania to continue her studies and observations, conducting the first solar activity observations [4] at the Astronomical Observatory of Bucharest (now known as Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy), thus becoming the first female astronomer in Romania. According to Păunescu: [1]
"At that time there was no female astronomer in Romania, and those abroad were very few. Women with aptitudes for science were marginalized at the time, but through perseverance and value they managed to be accepted.” [1]
She published several specialized papers on planets, sunspots, protrusions of Halley's comet and other celestial phenomena in the Observatory's yearbook and in the journal Nature aimed at making this field popular. However, her observations of the Sun and sunspots with inadequate protection led to impaired eyesight, which caused her to give up her hands-on work at the Observatory. [1]
For her next career, Teohari become an astronomy and mathematics teacher at the Princess Ileana high school (in Romanian "Domnița Ileana") in Bucharest. [2] To help students learn her new coursework, she published a series of textbooks focusing on two disciplines, mathematics and astronomy. [1]
While still a teacher, she kept in touch with the Astronomical Observatory and became a mentor to researchers there. "We can say without mistaking that she was the unofficial professor of Romanian astronomers in the 20th century," said Păunescu. [1]
She was listed as a member of the Society of Science and Mathematics in Romania in 1929. [5]
She was very familiar with German, English and French, the languages from which she had made translations since her childhood. She also enjoyed playing the piano.
Teohari died in Bucharest soon after her 90th birthday. [1] [2]
Edward Walter Maunder was an English astronomer. His study of sunspots and the solar magnetic cycle led to his identification of the period from 1645 to 1715 that is now known as the Maunder Minimum.
Richard Christopher Carrington was an English amateur astronomer whose 1859 astronomical observations demonstrated the existence of solar flares as well as suggesting their electrical influence upon the Earth and its aurorae; and whose 1863 records of sunspot observations revealed the differential rotation of the Sun.
Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI that was later known as "Miss Mitchell's Comet" in her honor. She won a gold medal prize for her discovery, which was presented to her by King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1848. Mitchell was the first internationally known woman to work as both a professional astronomer and a professor of astronomy after accepting a position at Vassar College in 1865. She was also the first woman elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics and astrophysics.
Traian Lalescu was a Romanian mathematician. His main focus was on integral equations and he contributed to work in the areas of functional equations, trigonometric series, mathematical physics, geometry, mechanics, algebra, and the history of mathematics.
Alexandru Ghika was a Romanian mathematician, founder of the Romanian school of functional analysis.
Maria Margaretha Kirch was a German astronomer. She was one of the first famous astronomers of her period due to her writing on the conjunction of the sun with Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in 1709 and 1712 respectively.
Annie Scott Dill Maunder was an Irish-British astronomer, who recorded the first evidence of the movement of sunspot emergence from the poles toward the equator over the Sun's 11-year cycle. She was one of the leading astronomers of her time, but because of her gender, her contribution was often underplayed at the time. In 1916 she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society, 21 years after being refused membership because of her gender.
Miron Nicolescu was a Romanian mathematician, best known for his work in real analysis and differential equations. He was President of the Romanian Academy and Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union.
Vox maris, Op. 31, is a symphonic poem composed between 1929 and 1954 by the Romanian composer George Enescu, dedicated to the memory of the great Romanian pianist Elena Bibescu.
Maria Filotti was a Romanian actress. She was described as one of the "prestigious actors of the great realistic school" and the "directress" of a theater "that made an important contribution to transmitting the experience from one generation to the next."
The two Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11, for orchestra, are George Enescu's best-known compositions. They were written in 1901, and first performed together in 1903. The two rhapsodies, and particularly the first, have long held a permanent place in the repertory of every major orchestra. They employ elements of lăutărească music, vivid Romanian rhythms, and an air of spontaneity. They exhibit exotic modal coloring, with some scales having 'mobile' thirds, sixths or sevenths, creating a shifting major/minor atmosphere, one of the characteristics of Romanian music. They also incorporate some material found in the later drafts of Enescu's Poème roumaine, Op. 1.
Elizabeth Brown was a British astronomer and Quaker who specialized in solar observation, especially sunspots and solar eclipses. She was instrumental in founding the British Astronomical Association and was also one of the first women Fellows of the Royal Meteorological Society.
Nicolae Culianu was a Moldavian, later Romanian mathematician and astronomer.
Victor Vâlcovici was a Romanian mechanician and mathematician.
Irina Loghin is a Romanian singer and politician, known as the best-selling artist from her domain in Romania.
Anne Sewell Young was an American astronomer. She was an astronomy professor at Mount Holyoke College for 37 years.
María Assumpció Català i Poch was a Spanish professor, mathematician, and astronomer. She taught from 1952 to 1991. She started as an assistant in the Astronomy Section of the Seminar on Mathematics in Barcelona, related to the Spanish National Research Council. Later, she worked in the Henri Poincaré Institute and she also cooperated in some projects with the special chair of Technology in the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
Nan Dieter-Conklin, also known as Nannielou Reier Hepburn Dieter Conklin, was an American radio astronomer.
Cabiria Andreian Cazacu was a Romanian mathematician known for her work in complex analysis. She held the chair in mathematical analysis at the University of Bucharest from 1973 to 1975, and was dean of the faculty of mathematics at the University of Bucharest from 1976 to 1984.
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
