[1] She attended the University of Delaware, where her interest in astronomy grew after taking math and chemistry courses.
[3] She earned an MA in Astronomy from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, in 1928 and worked as a research assistant and astronomer at Harvard College Observatory from 1924 to 1954, initially working with Annie Jump Cannon on classifying star spectra and estimating star brightness.
[3] During this time, she would spend summers working with Margaret Hardwood of the Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket, MA, where she became interested in researching variable stars.
[5] While working in Nantucket, she met Robert Newton Mayall, a member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), and would marry in 1927.
[1] In 1957, she was the recipient of the G. Bruce Blair Gold Medal from the Western Amateur Society.