Edward Charles Pickering (1846 - 1919)

Born 19 Jul 1846 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Wadsworth (Sparks) Pickering — married 9 Mar 1874 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Died 3 Feb 1919 at age 72 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Edward Pickering is Notable.

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.

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.

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.

Research Notes

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountain_Club
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZCC-DPV : Sat Oct 07 00:36:50 UTC 2023), Entry for Edward Pickering and Charlotte Pickering, 1860.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1925", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N449-BY3 : 17 December 2022), Edward C. Pickering and Lizzie W. Sparks, 1874.
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_College_Observatory
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Computers
6. ↑ "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1925", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23T8-XWM : 1 September 2021), Edward Charles Pickering, 1919.

See Also

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZKL-MR1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Charles_Pickering
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6688190/edward-charles-pickering