Maria Mitchell

Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and was a first cousin four times removed of Benjamin Franklin. Encouraged by her parents to aspire to high goals, she became the first acknowledged woman astronomer in the United States in the 1880. She became the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and later became a fellow of the society. She served as professor of astronomy at Vassar College, New York, from 1865 to 1888. In 1875, she was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Women.