Annie Jump Cannon

Annie Jump Cannon, born in Dover, Delaware, was a pioneering American astronomer who, despite facing the patriarchal biases of her era, revolutionized the field of stellar spectroscopy. Her hearing impairment, sustained from scarlet fever as a child, might have hindered some, but for Cannon, it simply meant she focused even more intently on the faint glimmers of distant stars.

Working at Harvard College Observatory, Cannon became one of "Pickering's Women," a group of female computers who processed astronomical data. While her male counterparts were busy taking all the credit, Cannon painstakingly examined photographic plates, meticulously classifying hundreds of thousands of stars. She developed the simplified Harvard Classification Scheme (OBAFGKM), which is still in use today and is the basis of modern stellar astrophysics.

Cannon’s monumental cataloging efforts provided the foundational data for countless astronomical discoveries. She identified more than 300 variable stars, 5 novae, and 1 spectroscopic binary, earning her numerous accolades and honorary doctorates – though not, it must be noted, the same pay as the men whose careers she enabled. So, while she never quite jumped over the moon, she certainly gave it a good shove.