Editing Dorrit Hoffleit (section)

==Life==

Hoffleit's interest in astronomy began with the 1919 [[Perseid meteor shower]] that she saw with her mother.<ref name="biogencastron">{{cite book
 | last = Horch
 | first = Elliott
 | contribution = Hofflet, Ellen Dorrit
 | year = 2007
 | title = The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
 | editor-last = Hockey    | editor-first = Thomas
 | editor2-last = Trimble  | editor2-first = Virginia
 | editor3-last = Williams | editor3-first = Thomas R.
 | publisher = [[Springer Publishing]]
 | place = New York
 | isbn = 978-0-387-30400-7
 | bibcode=2007bea..book.....H
 | doi = 10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_636
| title-link = Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
 | pages = 516–517
 }} {{subscription required}}</ref> In 1928, she graduated [[Latin honors|cum laude]] with a B.A. in mathematics. She then went on to work for the [[Harvard College Observatory]], searching for variable stars.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hoffleit|first=Dorritt|title=New Variable Stars in MWF 175|journal=Bulletin of the Harvard College Observatory|year=1931|volume=884|issue=10|pages=10|bibcode=1931BHarO.884...10H}}</ref> In 1938, she was awarded a Ph.D. in astronomy from [[Radcliffe College]]<ref name="thesis-hoffleit-1938">{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301768926/ |title=On The Spectroscopic Determination Of Absolute Magnitudes, With Application to Southern Stars Of Types Later Than A |date=1938 |institution=[[Radcliffe College]] |degree=Ph.D. |last=Hoffleit |first=Ellen D. |id={{ProQuest|301768926}} |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and was subsequently hired, in 1948, as an astronomer at [[Harvard University]]. She remained at Harvard until 1956 when she moved to [[Yale University]]. She remained at Yale until retirement in 1975.<ref name="Pearce">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/nyregion/23hoffleit.html |first1=Jeremy |last1=Pearce |date=April 23, 2007 |title=Obituary: E. Dorrit Hoffleit, Scientist, Dies at 100 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 19, 2012}}</ref>

At Yale she followed in the footsteps of [[Ida Barney]], taking over her astrometric work, and of whom she later wrote "To know [her] was a pleasure, inspiration, and privilege, both at work and socially."<ref>{{citation
  | url = http://www.aas.org/cswa/status/status_june1990.pdf
  | work = Status: The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
  | publisher = [[American Astronomical Society]]
  | date = June 1990
  | title = Ida M. Barney, Ace Astrometrist
  | first1 = E. Dorrit
  | last1 = Hoffleit
  | author-link = Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit
  | access-date = 17 November 2012
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160405131725/http://www.aas.org/cswa/status/status_june1990.pdf
  | archive-date = 5 April 2016
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref> Hoffleit also served as director of the [[Maria Mitchell Observatory]] on [[Nantucket Island]] from 1957 to 1978, where she ran summer programs (May–October) for more than 100 students, many of whom went on to successful careers in astronomy.<ref name="Dorrit Hoffleit"/> In her final years at Yale, Hoffleit taught basic courses in astronomy to undergraduates. Her passionate lectures in Davies Hall, usually with over 100 students, inspired and awed them.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} She engendered a lifelong interest in astronomy for young women and men, many of whom were just satisfying a prerequisite to their undergraduate degrees.

During the mid 1950s, Hoffleit consulted for the [[U.S. Army]]'s [[Ballistic Research Laboratory|Ballistic Research Laboratories]] in "[[Doppler effect|Doppler]] reductions".<ref>{{cite book
|title=Ballistic Research Laboratories
|publisher=[[United States Army Ordnance Corps|Ordnance Corps, Department of the Army]]
|date=April 1955
}}</ref>

She was the main editor of the Yale ''[[Bright Star Catalogue]].'' The Catalogue is a compendium of information on the 9,110 brightest stars in the sky. She also co-authored ''[[The General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes]]'', containing precise distance measurements to 8,112 stars, information critical to understanding the [[kinematics]] of the [[Milky Way galaxy]] and the evolution of the [[solar neighborhood]]. With [[Harlan James Smith|Harlan J. Smith]], Hoffleit discovered the optical variability of the first-discovered [[quasar]] [[3C 273]].<ref>{{cite journal
|title = Light Variations in the Superluminous Radio Galaxy 3C273
|journal = Nature
|volume  = 198
|pages   = 650
|year    = 1963
|author1=Smith, H. J. |author2= Hoffleit, D. |name-list-style=amp |doi = 10.1038/198650a0
|issue = 4881
|bibcode = 1963Natur.198..650S |s2cid = 4189751
}}</ref>

In 1988, Hoffleit was awarded the [[George Van Biesbroeck Prize]] by the [[American Astronomical Society]] for a lifetime of service to astronomy. On March 7-8, 1997, [[Yale University]] hosted a symposium in honor of Hoffleit's 90th birthday, dedicated to her nearly 70-year career.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Philip |first1=A.G. Davis |url=https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=A66H502107759.25903&profile=rev-nbl&source=~!horizon&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100006~!30828~!0&ri=12&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=dorrit+hoffleit&index=.GW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=12 |title=Anni Mirabiles: A Symposium Celebrating the 90th Birthday of Dorrit Hoffleit |last2=van Altena |first2=William F. |last3=Upgren |first3=Arthur R. |publisher=L. Davis Press, Inc. |year=1999 |isbn=0933485239 |location=Schenectady}}</ref>

Hoffleit turned [[centenarian|100]] on March 12, 2007, and died a month later from complications of cancer.<ref name="aas">{{Cite news
  | title = Dorrit Hoffleit (1907 - 2007)
  | newspaper = AAS Newsletter
  | date = May–June 2007
  }}</ref>