Editing Dorrit Hoffleit

{{short description|American astronomer (1907–2007)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Dorrit Hoffleit
| image             = Dorrit-hoffleit.JPG
| image_size        = 200px
| alt               = Colour portrait photograph of Dorrit Hoffleit. A female scientist.
| caption           =
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1907|03|12}}
| birth_place       = [[Florence, Alabama]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2007|04|09|1907|03|12}}
| death_place       = [[New Haven, Connecticut]]
| resting_place     =
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} -->
| other_names       = Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit
| nationality       = American
| fields            = [[Astronomy]]
| workplaces        = [[Harvard College Observatory]], [[Ballistic Research Laboratory]], [[Harvard University]], [[Yale University]], [[Maria Mitchell Observatory]]
| alma_mater        = [[Radcliffe College]]
| thesis_title      = On the Spectroscopic Determination of Absolute Magnitudes, With Application to the Southern Stars of Types Later than A.
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301768926/
| thesis_year       = 1938
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Bart Bok]]
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students  =
| known_for         = [[Bright Star Catalog]]
| influences        =
| influenced        =
| awards            = [[Caroline Wilby Prize]]<br>[[George Van Biesbroeck Prize]] {{small|(1988)}}
}}

'''Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit''' (March 12, 1907 – April 9, 2007)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aavso.org/memoriam-dorrit-hoffleit|title=In Memoriam: Dorrit Hoffleit |last1=Saladyga|first1=Michael|last2=Waagen|first2=Elizabeth|date=2010-05-02|website=www.aavso.org|language=en}}</ref> was an American senior research [[astronomer]] at [[Yale University]]. She is best known for her work in [[variable star]]s, [[astrometry]], [[Astronomical spectroscopy|spectroscopy]], [[Meteoroid|meteors]], and the [[Bright Star Catalog]]. She is also known for her mentorship of many young women and generations of astronomers.<ref name="Dorrit Hoffleit">{{cite book
|author = Dorrit Hoffleit
|title = Misfortunes as Blessings in Disguise: The Story of My Life
|url = https://www.aavso.org/dorrit-hoffleit-autobiography-misfortunes-blessings-disguise
|publisher = [[American Association of Variable Star Observers]]
|isbn = 978-1-878174-48-2|year = 2002
}}</ref>

==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>

==See also==
* [[Ida Barney]]
* [[Cora G. Burwell]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/womenastro/womenastro-all.html |title=Bibliography: Dorrit Hoffleit |work=Women in Astronomy|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=18 November 2012}}

==External links==
* [http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/science-health/dorrit-hoffleit Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit, member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080828133710/http://astrosociety.org/education/resources/womenast_bib02.html#3e Bibliography] from the [[Astronomical Society of the Pacific]]
* [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00362 Papers, 1906–2005.] [http://radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
* Picture of Dorrit Hoffleit: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140116114142/http://www.astro.yale.edu/vlg8/images/dorrit.jpg.jpeg ]
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.1915 E. Dorrit Hoffleit Papers (MS 1915).] Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
* Michael Saladyga and Elizabeth Waagen, ''[https://www.aavso.org/memoriam-dorrit-hoffleit In Memoriam: Dorrit Hoffleit]'', on ''aavso.org.''

{{Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffleit, Dorrit}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century American scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:People from Florence, Alabama]]
[[Category:American astronomers]]
[[Category:American women centenarians]]
[[Category:American women astronomers]]
[[Category:Radcliffe College alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:Harvard College Observatory people]]
[[Category:American women academics]]