Alice Everett

Alice Everett (15 May 1865^[1] – 29 July 1949) was a British astronomer and engineer, and also contributed to the fields of optics and early television. Everett is probably best known for being the first woman to be paid for astronomical work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, when she began her employment at the observatory January 1890.^[2][3][4]

Early life

Born in Glasgow in 1865, Everett moved to Belfast when she was two when her father, Joseph David Everett, FRS, was appointed as Professor of Natural Philosophy at Queen's University, Belfast. Her father would remain in the post until his retirement thirty years later. Everett was educated at the Methodist College Belfast, where she was a prize pupil.^[2]

University education

At this time, the sole means of access to a university education in Ireland for women was through the Royal University, Ireland, which awarded degrees solely through examination. In 1882 Queen's College, Belfast began accepting female students, allowing them to take lectures in preparation for the Royal University examinations. Everett applied for this option and in 1884 she was awarded first place in the first-year science examinations but the college refused to grant the scholarship to a woman. And so in 1886, Everett moved to Girton College, Cambridge and would have a more fruitful and successful period at this all-women's college. In 1887 she sat and passed with honours the Royal University in mathematics and mathematical physics and would she would be awarded a Master of Arts by the same body two years later in 1889. Also in 1889, Everett passed the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge. Female students were permitted to sit the examinations but the university would not grant degrees to female students until 1928. 1889 would mark the end of Everett's university education and the beginning of a ground-breaking career in astronomy.^[2]

Career in astronomy

Under a scheme put in place by William Christie, Astronomer Royal (1881–1910), Everett became the first woman to work for the Royal Observatory, Greenwich when she began working as a supernumerary computer in January 1890. At this time, her job title meant something quite different from how we understand the term today - in the field of astronomy, a computer was a person who carried out routine calculations to reduce raw observational data into usable tables. At Greenwich, Everett was assigned to work in the Astrographic Department, contributing to the international Carte du Ciel project. Begun in 1887, the project's aim was to catalogue all stars brighter than 11 magnitude using the still-new technique of stellar photography and a number of different observatories took part in the project. In addition to her work as a computer, Everett was trained to use the Observatory's new astrographic telescope (installed in 1890) in order to take the photographs. Everett's job also involved measuring the plates, calculating the co-ordinates of the stars, and reducing the data for the catalogue. During this time, Everett also made observations for the Transit Department with the Prime-Meridian-defining Airy Transit Circle.

In 1891 Everett persuaded her friend Annie Russell to apply to work at the Royal Observatory and in September she began work at the observatory. Russell had attended Girton College with Everett and the two had sat and passed the difficult Tripos examination together. In 1892 the work of these two keen young female astronomers were being recognised within the observatory and they were proposed for fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society, along with Elizabeth Brown. Their fellowship application was denied by the all-male committee (similarly, the nomination of Isis Pogson had been rejected in 1886) so instead they joined and actively contributed to the amateur British Astronomical Association (BAA). Everett would publish her work in the BAA's journal, The Observatory and would also publish in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and elsewhere.

After five years at Greenwich, Everett became tired of the low salary and began looking for work elsewhere. She failed to get a position at the Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, and instead obtained a three-year temporary post at the observatory in Potsdam, then Europe's leading institution for astrophysical research. Everett began working at the observatory as a scientific assistant in October 1895 and continued to work on the Carte du Ciel project. After her three-year stint at the observatory, she moved to a one-year post at the observatory of Vassar College. James Keeler, director of the Lick Observatory had hoped to hire her for the spectroscopic programme at the observatory but was unable to obtain funds. Instead Everett would return to London in 1900 where her interests turned from astronomy to the related field of optics.

Optics

Everett's interest in optics had been sparked when she assisted her retired father in translating an article in German on Jena optical glass. She would assist her father with his research and experiments in optics until his death in 1904. However opportunities for women in this field of science (or indeed any field of science) were few. As a result, Everett would be unable to find regular paid work until the First World War, which gave many women an opportunity to enter the workforce. In 1917 and at the age of fifty-two, Everett joined the staff of the National Physical Laboratory. Everett worked in the optics section until she reached the age of retirement (60) in 1925.

Engineering and television

Retirement would mark the third strand of Everett's technical career, engineering. In the late 1920s Everett would take and pass examinations in wireless and electrical engineering. Everett also developed an interest in the new field of television and may have been one of two women present at the demonstration of the first television image by John Logie Baird in January 1926. As a result, Everett would become one of the founding members and Fellows of the newly established Television Society (now Royal Television Society) in September 1927. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Everett would become involved with the Baird Television Company and Television Society and in 1933 the two would apply for a joint patent relating to television optics. Everett would continue contribution to the field of television for the rest of her life. In recognition of her contribution to the field of physics, she was granted a civil list pension of £100 in 1938. On 29 July 1949, she died in London and would leave her library of scientific books to the Television Society.

References