He worked for General Electric, eventually rising to be president of the company in 1922 and enabling his daughter to be independently wealthy throughout her life.

[4] She learned of talks at Maria Mitchell Observatory while vacationing with her family on Nantucket, and took an evening class there alongside her brother.

Although she was hired as Baade's research assistant, in the "nebular-studies" group, she worked independently even to the point of writing scientific publications with his name on them after his death.

They followed up this work in 1963 with new results of 20 Cepheids in a region of Andromeda less affected by extinction and estimated a new distance modulus of 24.20 mag.

[10] In 1967, Swope made a donation of securities valued at $650,000 to the Carnegie Institution of Washington to develop "optical astronomical observatory facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.

"[11] This gift was used for development of the site, including roads, water, and power systems, and for building a 40-inch telescope at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

Swope also left most of her estate to Carnegie to support further Las Campanas and astronomical research at the institution more generally.