Charlotte Moore Sitterly

Charlotte Moore Sitterly
Born September 24, 1898(1898-09-24)
Ercildoun, Pennsylvania
Died March 3, 1990(1990-03-03) (aged 91)
Nationality American
Fields astronomy
Alma mater Princeton
Influences Henry Norris Russell
Bancroft W. Sitterly
Notable awards Bruce Medal (1990)

Charlotte Emma Moore Sitterly (September 24, 1898 – March 3, 1990) was an American astronomer.

Charlotte Moore was born in Ercildoun, Pennsylvania, a small village near Coatesville. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1920 and went on to Princeton to assist Henry Norris Russell. During this time she worked at the Princeton University Observatory and the Mt. Wilson Observatory. While at Princeton, Moore's interest in astrophysics began to blossom. She worked at the Princeton University Observatory where she was accompanied by Henry Norris Russel. The two of them used spectroscopy to determine the wavelength where spectral lines appeared. She worked extensively on solar spectroscopy, analyzing the spectral lines of the Sun and thereby identifying the chemical elements in the Sun. She earned a Ph.D. in astronomy in 1931 from the University of California, Berkeley on a Lick Fellowship, and then returned to Princeton.

During her second stay at Princeton, she met and married Bancroft W. Sitterly, who became a physics professor. She continued to publish journals under her maiden name because most of her recognition was under that name. She joined the then National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1945. Her tables of atomic spectra and energy levels, published by NBS, have remained essential references in spectroscopy for decades.

Later in her life, it became possible to launch instruments on rockets and she extended her work to the ultraviolet spectral lines. She is known to being one of the only scientists who devoted her entire career to gaining precise numbers which gave assurance to people using her information.

Honors

Her Awards

Named after her

External links