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.
Florence Cushman was one of the Harvard University computers from 1888 onward. Among her best known works for him was A Catalogue of 16,300 Stars Observed with the 12-inch Meridian Photometer. She also worked with Annie Jump Cannon. That said as a female computer she normally earned half of what a male counterpart would.
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