Winter Science Speaker Series Lineup Announced

Logan Gomes • February 8, 2022

Nantucket, MA – The Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) has announced the lineup for its popular Winter Science Speaker Series, featuring presentations from MMA intern alumni. Each winter, former interns rejoin the MMA to discuss their fascinating research and the projects they have been involved with since their time on Nantucket. Topics will include astronomy, natural history collections, marine science research, and more. All presentations will take place on alternating Wednesday evenings from 7-8:00PM and are free via Zoom.


First up on Wednesday, February 9th is Anne Blackwell, a former MMA National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) Astronomy Intern from 2018. Her talk, “Mystery of the Missing Metals  ̶  Finding the Origin of Metals in Galaxy Clusters” will focus on discussing theories regarding metals found in “hot halos” within galaxy clusters.
 
Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the Universe  ̶  collections of hundreds to thousands of galaxies all bound together by gravity. Between the galaxies there is hot gas (~70,000,000 degrees F) containing atoms, known as the hot halo. Information about the history and the evolution of these clusters is held within the hot halo. Observing this phenomena, we see a high abundance of metals, such as iron. We don't know where these metals came from. The stars within the galaxies in the cluster produce metals, but based on our understanding of stellar evolution, they would not produce the extremely high amount of metals seen in the hot halo. Here is where Blackwell tries to answer the question, “Where did the metals come from if not the stars within the galaxy cluster?”


Blackwell is a third year graduate student in the Astronomy & Astrophysics department at the University of Michigan. She works with Dr. Joel Bregman using X-rays to study galaxy groups and clusters; specifically, their metal content. In addition to research, Anne is part of outreach organizations such as Astronomy on Tap, FEMMES, and is a planetarium operator at the University of Michigan Natural History Museum. Recently, she developed an activity for children to learn about light pollution with the Michigan Dark Skies group which is being adopted by public libraries all over Michigan. She has been part of a panel for the Chandra X-ray Observatory with the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, and given public talks at Astronomy on Tap, and the Michigan Warren Astronomical Society.


Future presenters include: Alexandra Mannings, NSF-REU Astronomy Intern, 2018 (February 23rd); Mark Losavio, MMA Aquarium Intern, 2014 (March 9th); Emmy Gagne, MMA Natural Science Intern, 2018 (March 23rd); Julia Blyth, MMA Natural Science Intern, 2010 and 2011 and current MMA Natural Science Collections Manager (April 6th); and Meg Lysaght Thacher, NSF-REU Astronomy Intern, 1986 (April 20th).

 

To register for the February 9th event, please follow the link below:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ocv498udSzW4PDNgCj-wLQ


For the full Winter Science Speaker Series schedule, please visit our website here:

https://www.mariamitchell.org/winter-science-speaker-series

 

The MMA’s Science Speaker Series is made possible by the sponsorship support of our Lead Sponsor, Bank of America and Supporting Sponsors: Cape Air, Cisco Brewers, The Osceola Foundation, Thirty Meter Telescope, and the White Elephant. 

 

This series is organized by the Maria Mitchell Association, a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.


The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

February 7, 2022

Contact: Logan Gomes, Director of Advancement

lgomes@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

E. Dorrit Hoffleit, Ph.D.

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 8, 2025
Dorrit Hoffleit began her tenure at the MMO in 1957. A graduate of Radcliffe, Hoffleit earned a Ph.D. from Radcliffe in 1938. During World War Two, she worked for the U. S. government on missile trajectories and joined Yale’s Astronomy Department in 1956. Her directorship of the MMO allowed her to work part of the year on island and the remainder at Yale with the two organizations sharing her salary. She was the principal author of the Yale Bright Star Catalog – work that was continually added to over fifty years – and her work also focused on the study of variable stars. Hoffleit continued in the path of Harwood with research and public outreach, and bringing worldwide recognition to the MMO. Among her many accomplishments on behalf of the MMO, Hoffleit is known for her work with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a grant she received in 1957 to allow for the summer training of female undergraduate students in astronomy. This was the pilot project for the national program of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in various branches of science and technology, launched by the NSF in 1990. The MMA became a permanent REU site in astronomy, which is funded by the NSF based on periodically submitted proposals. Today, the MMO continues to have a lasting effect on its students. More than five percent of all the U.S. women becoming Ph.D.s in astronomy have participated in the MMA REU program. The probability of a current MMA REU student (either female or male) to become a Ph.D. is approximately sixty percent. Approximately fifty current professors of astronomy in the U. S. have participated in the REU program at the MMA. Hoffleit who retired from the MMO in 1978, continued her connections to the MMA up until the last weeks of her life. She passed away in 2007 at the age of one hundred. JNLF

Astronomical Study

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 25, 2025
With Margaret Harwood’s growing collection of glass plates of the night skies needing better storage and Harwood in need of a warm place to work in the fall and spring, the Hinchman family gave $5,000.00 towards the construction of a study and storage area at the MMO. The MMA was able to raise the remaining $1,500.00 needed and the Astronomical Study was built in 1922 between the Observatory and Mitchell House. The Astronomical Study was built as a memorial to Eliza R. Mitchell, the Treasurer of the MMA from 1905 to 1918, and a family member. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 18, 2025
August 17{1857} Today we have been to the far-famed British museum. I carried as “open sesame” a paper given to me by Prof. Henry asking for me special attention from all societies with which the Smithsonian {is} connected . . . . The art of printing has brought us incalculable blessings, but as I looked at a neat manuscript book by Queen Elizabeth copied from another, as a present to her Father I could not help thinking that it was better than worsted work! On August 2, 1857, Maria Mitchell and the young woman she was accompanying as a chaperone, Prudence Smith, arrived in Liverpool England for their European tour. Maria Mitchell’s “open sesame” was a letter of introduction – she went with several. She would find that the doors were thrown open for America’s first woman astronomer – she was that well known in America and abroad. She would become quite close to Sir George Airy, the British Astronomer Royal, and his wife Richarda, as well as the astronomical Herschel family. JNLF
Show More