Annie Jump Cannon Biography

Annie Jump Cannon was born in Dover, Delaware on December 11, 1863. Annie’s passion for astronomy and the stars was inspired by her mother, who taught her about constellations when Annie was a child. She attended Wellesley and majored in the fields of astronomy and physics, where she learned many of the astronomical skills she later used in her studies. She later returned to Wellesley to teach as a junior physics teacher as well as being a student at Radcliffe. Later, Cannon was hired by Edward Pickering and became a member of “Pickering’s Women” and did her astronomical calculations while working for Harvard College Observatory.

Annie Jump Cannon’s significant contributions to astronomy began when she was put in charge of a project for classifying stars. She developed the system in which stars would be classified in spectral classes using the letters O, B, A, F, K, M (which can be remembered with the acronym Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me). She studied spectroscopy, in which light is broken up into component colors, which form the colors in the spectrum of light. By studying the spectra of stars scientists can learn an enormous amount of information about them. Annie Cannon discovered a total of over three hundred stars and classified over a quarter of a million stars into the Henry Draper Catalog before her retirement in 1940. She was also voted one of the top twelve greatest American women. She was named Curator of Astronomical Photographs at Harvard. Annie Jump Cannon contributed significantly to the fields of astronomy and physics and laid a foundation for future astronomers and women in her field of study through her discoveries and developments. Annie Jump Cannon died on April 13, 1941.