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Edward was the founder of the Appalachian Mountain Club[1] conservationist organization in 1876.
As director of Harvard Observatory, Edward Charles Pickering transformed observational astronomy into a modern science. By employing women as computers to analyze the observations, he promoted Harvard to the forfront of world class astronomy.
Edward Charles Pickering was born on 19 July 1846 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Edward R. Pickering and Charlotte (Hammond) Pickering. The 1860 census[2] lists Edward as living with his family in Boston where his father is a prominent lawyer.
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edward Pickering | Head | M | 52 | Massachusetts |
Charlotte Pickering | Wife | F | 40 | Massachusetts |
Edward Pickering | Son | M | 14 | Massachusetts |
Ellen Pickering | Daughter | F | 18 | Massachusetts |
William H Pickering | Son | M | 2 | Massachusetts |
Ellen Conkley | Servant | F | 23 | Ireland |
Mary Burns | Servant | F | 22 | N Brunswick |
On 09 March 1874 Edward married[3] Elizabeth (Lizzie) Wadsworth Sparks in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They are not known to have children. In 1877 Edward was hired to be director of Harvard Collage Observatory.[4] The 1880 census shows Edward living in North Cambridge, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts listed as an astronomer.
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edward C Pickering | Head | M | 33 | Massachuestts |
Lizzie Pickering | Wife | F | 31 | Massachusetts |
William A Rogers | Astronomer | M | 47 | Connecticut |
Annie Raynie | Servant | F | 19 | Massachusetts |
Ann McKinnock | Servant | F | 53 | Scotland |
Edward established a modern astronomy laboratory at the observatory and saved cost by hiring women as computers to operate the lab.
The women computers[5] at Harvard Observatory would go on to make some of the most important discovery's in astronomy of the times. Many of them are known today as great scientists and pioneers of women in science. Edward invented methods of observing which made his collections invaluable to astronomers everywhere for decades.
Elizabeth died in 1906. Edward Charles Pickering passed away[6] on 03 Feb 1919 from pneumonia in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. He is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts near Elizabeth.
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