Helen L. Thomas

[2] Later in her career, she served as the Head of Publications at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Laboratory of Electronics.

During her undergraduate studies, she worked at Harvard College Observatory part time documenting the motions of variable stars.

A short marriage with Frederick M. Thomas, entered soon after her graduation, left her with a changed name and a son, Roger, whom she had to support.

[2] As a working mother, Thomas entered graduate school at Harvard in 1937, in the History of Science department, earning her PhD in 1948.

[2] A professional remembrance of her in the journal Isis in 1998 described her PhD thesis, "The Early History of Variable Star Observing to the 19th Century," as a "true masterpiece.