Evelyn Leland

[7] Therefore, at the Harvard College Observatory, there was an opportunity for a woman with a talent for patient and skillful cataloging,[7] like Leland.

[7] The high proportion of women in astronomy, botany, zoology, and anthropology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was due to the large amounts of data that these fields required to process.

[9] The observatory's research on stellar spectra required meticulous analysis of numerous fragile glass plates on which light from distant bodies had been captured at the Arequipa Station in Peru, and then shipped to Harvard's campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[1] In 1903, she and Williamina Fleming investigated the possibility of a new nova in the constellation Gemini discovered by a British astronomer.

[1] In 1906, Leland, Annie Jump Canon and Henrietta Swan Leavitt began an all-sky search for variable stars.

[13] Leland also measured the brightness and position of objects such as stars Nova Sagittarii, Mu Serpentis, asteroid Eros, and Saturn's moon Phoebe.

[1] Solon Irving Bailey, who helped establish the Harvard observing station at Arequipa and later replaced Pickering as acting director of the observatory, was interested in the study of variable stars.

[8] There are over 500,000 photographs of the celestial glass plates worked on by Harvard Computers,[15] each contained in a paper envelope.

[16] About 20% of these are themed on stellar variability, proper motion, galactic dynamics, cosmology, meteors, and comets.

[15] Along with information about the plate itself, such as the date, unique identification number, telescope used, and sky area, the jacket often bears the signature of the person who used it.