Computer (astronomer term)

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Computer in the history of astronomy was a person whose job it was to do calculation of orbits and cataloguing of stars. This work was seen as too tedious for astronomers proper. For some men being a computer was a temporary position until they moved on to greater advancements. For women the occupation was generally closed, but this changed in the late nineteenth century with Edward Charles Pickering. His group was at times termed "Pickering's Harem." Many of the women astronomers from this era are computers with possibly the best known being Henrietta Swan Leavitt.