Resource Guides

Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide

by Andrew Fraknoi
(Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco)
[January 2022]

© copyright 2022 by Andrew Fraknoi. All rights reserved.  For permission to use, or to suggest additional materials, please contact the author at e-mail: fraknoi@fhda.edu

This guide to non-technical English-language materials is not meant to be a comprehensive or scholarly introduction to the complex topic of the role of women in astronomy.  It is simply a resource for educators and students who wish to begin exploring the challenges and triumphs of women of the past and present.  It’s also an opportunity to get to know the lives and work of some of the key women who have overcome prejudice and exclusion to make significant contributions to our field.  We only include a representative selection of living women astronomers about whom non-technical material at the level of beginning astronomy students is easily available. Lack of inclusion in this introductory list is not meant to suggest any less importance. We also don’t include Wikipedia articles, although those are sometimes a good place for students to begin. Suggestions for additional non-technical listings are most welcome.

Table of Contents below.

1. Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy

2. Resources on Issues Women Face

3. Material on Some Women Astronomers of the Past

4. Material on Some Living Astronomers who are Women

5. A Sampling of Material about Other Women Astronomers