Whiting, Sarah F. (1847–1927)

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Whiting, Sarah F. (1847–1927)

American physicist and astronomer. Born Sarah Frances Whiting in Wyoming, New Jersey, Aug 23, 1847; died 1927; dau. of a physics teacher; attended Ingham University.

While a professor of physics at Wellesley College (1876), attended classes in physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a guest, the 1st woman to study physics at MIT; developed, with the help of Harvard's E. C. Pickering, one of the 1st undergraduate teaching laboratories in physics in the country; introduced an astronomy course, then called "applied physics," at Wellesley (1880); better known for her teaching than her research, was the 1st director of the Whitin Observatory; retired (1916).

See also Women in World History.

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