Episode 3.34: The Harvard College Observatory

In this week's episode we look at the early work of the Harvard College Observatory under the direction of Edward Charles Pickering.  We discuss his three big research initiatives: the visual photometric survey of stars, the All-Sky Survey and Catalogue and the Draper Memorial Catalogue that catalogued and classified the spectra of over 10,000 individual stars.  Instrumental in this last effort was Williamina Fleming: Pickering's one time housekeeper turned lead calculator in the project.