# Margaret Mayall

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{{short description|American astronomer}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Margaret Mayall
| image             = 
| birth_date        = January 27, 1902
| birth_place       = Iron Hill, Maryland, US
| death_date        = {{death date and age |1995|12|06 |1902|01|27 |mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [Cambridge, Massachusetts](/source/Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts), US
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [Astronomy](/source/Astronomy)
| education         = [Swarthmore College](/source/Swarthmore_College)
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = Swarthmore College<br/>[Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College) <small>([M.A.](/source/Master_of_Arts))</small>
| prizes            = 
| religion          = 
| signature         = 
}}

'''Margaret Walton Mayall''' (January 27, 1902 – December 6, 1995) was an American astronomer. She was the director of the [American Association of Variable Star Observers](/source/American_Association_of_Variable_Star_Observers) (AAVSO) from 1949 to 1973.<ref name="obit">{{Cite web|url=https://aas.org/obituaries/margaret-walton-mayall-1902-1995|title=Margaret Walton Mayall (1902–1995)|publisher=American Astronomical Society|website=aas.org|language=en|access-date=2016-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322123323/https://aas.org/obituaries/margaret-walton-mayall-1902-1995|archive-date=2016-03-22|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Mayall (born Margaret Lyle Walton) was born in Iron Hill, Maryland, on January 27, 1902.<ref name="obit"/> The northern lights and Halley's comet in 1910 are stated to have stimulated her interest in astronomy at a young age.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=1996BAAS...28.1455H Page 1455 |url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1996BAAS...28.1455H |access-date=2025-10-31 |website=adsabs.harvard.edu}}</ref> She attended the [University of Delaware](/source/University_of_Delaware), where her interest in astronomy grew after taking math and chemistry courses.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 16, 2015 |title=Halley's Comet & Northern Lights Stimulated Interest in Astronomy for a Young Lady From Iron Hill |url=https://cecilcountyhistory.com/tag/margaret-walton/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Window on Cecil County's Past |language=en-US}}</ref>  She then moved to [Swarthmore College](/source/Swarthmore_College), where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics in 1925.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

She earned an MA in astronomy from [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College), Harvard University, in 1928 and worked as a research assistant and astronomer at [Harvard College Observatory](/source/Harvard_College_Observatory) from 1924 to 1954, initially working with [Annie Jump Cannon](/source/Annie_Jump_Cannon) on classifying star spectra and estimating star brightness.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Notick |first=Samantha |date=2022 |title=Margaret Walton Mayall |url=https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/margaret-walton-mayall |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Wolbach Library |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103190542/https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/margaret-walton-mayall|archive-date=November 3, 2022}}</ref> During this time, she would spend summers working with [Margaret Hardwood](/source/Margaret_Harwood) of the [Maria Mitchell Observatory](/source/Maria_Mitchell_Observatory) in [Nantucket](/source/Nantucket), [MA](/source/Massachusetts), where she became interested in researching [variable star](/source/variable_star)s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Margaret Walton Mayall |url=https://library.cfa.harvard.edu/women-at-hco/margaret-walton-mayall |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=library.cfa.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref> She was a research staff member at the Heat Research Laboratory, Special Weapons Group, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology) from 1943 to 1946.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Saladyga |first1=Michael |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |url=http://www.fulviofrisone.com/attachments/article/464/Springer-Verlag%20The%20Biographical%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Astronomers.pdf |page=751}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
While working in Nantucket, she met Robert Newton Mayall, a member of the [American Association of Variable Star Observers](/source/American_Association_of_Variable_Star_Observers) (AAVSO), and would marry in 1927.<ref name="obit"/> They co-wrote several books on sundial and other subjects while working with the Ernst Sundial Collection of Harvard.<ref name=":1" />

She died of congestive heart failure in [Cambridge, Massachusetts](/source/Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts), on 6 December 1995.<ref name="obit"/>

== Awards ==
In 1957, she was the recipient of the G. Bruce Blair Gold Medal from the Western Amateur Society.<ref name=":1" />

In 1958, she won the [Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy](/source/Annie_J._Cannon_Award_in_Astronomy).<ref name="obit" />

In 1982, a [minor planet](/source/minor_planet) was named, [3342 Fivesparks](/source/3342_Fivesparks), in honor of her and her husband's home in Cambridge.<ref name=":1" />

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Thomas R. |last2= Saladyga|first2=Michael|title=Advancing Variable Star Astronomy: The Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49634-6}}

==External links==
*[http://www.aavso.org/margaret-mayall Letters at the AAVSO]
*[https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28323-1 Oral history interview with Margaret Mayall on 11 August 1986, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives] - Session I
*[https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/28323-2 Oral history interview with Margaret Mayall on 12 September 1986, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives] - Session II
*[https://zenodo.org/record/8326#.W73xWbxKjrc The Harold C. Ernst Collection of Portable Sundials]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayall, Maraget}}
Category:1902 births
Category:1995 deaths
Category:American women astronomers
Category:Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy
Category:20th-century American women scientists
Category:People from Cecil County, Maryland
Category:20th-century American scientists
Category:Radcliffe College alumni
Category:Swarthmore College alumni
Category:Harvard College Observatory people

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Margaret Mayall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mayall) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mayall?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.