
Nancy Grace Roman in the Niels Bohr Library & Archives reading room, looking at her papers on September 18, 2012. Photo ID: Roman Nancy B25 Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
Nancy Grace Roman Papers display from the Niels Bohr Library & Archives at the June 5th, 2024 Trimble Lecture in D.C.
AIP
On Wednesday June 5, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) held its second Trimble History of Science Lecture
As with last month’s Trimble Lecture
The NBL&A holds the archival papers of Dr. Nancy Grace Roman
Dr. Nancy Grace Roman (1925-2018) was an American astronomer who served as the first Chief of Astronomy Programs as well as the first female executive at NASA. Dr. Roman is perhaps best known for her instrumental role in the development of the Hubble Space Telescope (earning her the nickname “Mother of the Hubble’’) and establishing NASA’s program of space-based observatories. After working at NASA for three decades and retiring in 1979, Dr. Roman remained active in science education and advocacy for women in the sciences for the rest of her life. Dr. Roman was also a long-time friend of AIP and NBL&A; she donated her archival personal papers, photographs, and several of her books to us, participated in our oral history program, and was a frequent attendee at AIP events and symposia.
Nancy Grace Roman in the Niels Bohr Library & Archives reading room, looking at her papers on September 18, 2012. Photo ID: Roman Nancy B25 Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
Let’s take a look at some of the papers and speeches we have in the Nancy Grace Roman Collection. If you are interested in viewing or reading any of the documents featured below, you can request a digital reference copy by emailing the Niels Bohr Library & Archives at nbl@aip.org
Planets of Other Suns
Item 1: “Planets of Other Suns” [Conference Paper]. Presented at 103rd AAS Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, September 1, 1959. Folder 4, Box 7, Nancy Grace Roman Papers, 1931-1993. Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740
“It has been customary to assume that it is impossible to detect a planet such as those in our solar system visually, at the distance of the nearest star. From the surface of the earth, this is undoubtedly true since the very large magnitude difference between a small, purely reflecting secondary and the bright primary would completely prevent detection of the fainter object. However, the newly opened possibility of using the moon as a base for scientific investigations not only has rekindled a long standing hope of someday discovering a planet belonging to a sun other than our own, but also may provide the environment necessary for such a discovery”
Nancy Grace Roman. Photo ID: Roman Nancy A1. Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Roman Collection
In February 1959, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman began her career at the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the first head of their Observational Astronomy Program. Part of her charge was to develop a new space-based astronomy program which would explore the potential of science that could be done by an observatory positioned outside of Earth’s atmosphere.
In September of that year, Dr. Roman attended the 103rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) where she presented a paper entitled “Planets of Other Suns.” (see Item 1 above). In this talk, Dr. Roman hailed the potential of space-based observatories for helping detect and directly observe planets outside our solar system, better known now as exoplanets. Exoplanets, especially small earth-sized planets, are hard to observe directly from Earth since they are often obscured by the light of their host star and by scattering effects of the Earth’s atmosphere. In the paper, Dr. Roman speaks of a proposed astronomical observatory on the moon, which would allow for a large telescope to look at changes to the star’s light due to transits of planets the size of ones in our own solar system. Although this moon observatory was never built and the first confirmed detection of an exoplanet would not be until 1992, the techniques Dr. Roman described in the paper are not unlike the methods currently used in large space telescopes for detecting exoplanets.
One of the major focuses for NASA and the field of astrophysical science in the next decade
Star Dust
Item 2: “Orbiting Astronomical Observatories” [Talk announcement] Star Dust, National Capital Astronomers, Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 1960. Folder 4, Box 7, Nancy Grace Roman Papers, 1931-1993. Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740
On the front page of this Star Dust newsletter of the National Capital Astronomers
A digital copy of the full newsletter is available on the National Capital Astronomers Star Dust archive
OSO Design Sketches
Item 3: Designs for Astronomical Satellites. Figures from “Astronomical Satellites of the Near Future”, 18 October 1960. Folder 4, Box 7, Nancy Grace Roman Papers, 1931-1993. Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740
The above prints are figures from the lecture “Astronomical Satellites of the Near Future,” given by Dr. Roman in 1960 to the Huntsville, Alabama, chapter of the American Rocket Society and Rocket City Astronomical Association. The talk, similar to the one given the the National Capital Astronomers (Item 2), featured some artist’s conceptions and prototype models for astronomical satellites being developed at NASA. As the Chief of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Office of Satellite & Sounding Rocket Program at NASA, Dr. Roman oversaw the development of the Orbiting Solar Observatory program which launched its first satellite, OSO 1
Nancy Roman works with a model of the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) circa 1963. Photo ID: Roman Nancy B10 Credit: NASA, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Roman Collection.
Nancy Roman with Smith Students
Item 4: Nancy Roman & Smith College Students [Photograph]. Nancy Roman (center) conducts a demonstration with Smith College students during a visit to NASA, March 26, 1965. Roman Nancy D4
In this image, Dr. Roman (center), conducts a demonstration using models of the Orbiting Solar Observatory and a launch rocket, during a visit by students of Smith College (a women’s college in Massachusetts) to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 1965. This image, and others from the Roman Collection, was donated by Dr. Roman to NBL&A in 1995 along with her archival papers.
Role of Women Scientists in the Space Program
Item 5: Role of Women Scientists in the Space Program. [Speech] NASA News Release, January 31, 1963. Folder 6, Box 7, Nancy Grace Roman Papers, 1931-1993. Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740
This next item is a transcript of a speech entitled “The Role of Women Scientists in the Space Program” given by Dr. Roman at Marymount College (a women’s college in New York) on January 31, 1963. Dr. Roman opens with an anecdote from high school recalling the difficulty in convincing her guidance counselor to let her take advanced mathematics her senior year: the counselor couldn’t understand “What lady would want to study mathematics instead of Latin!” Despite the nation’s need for a new generation of trained scientists during WWII, Dr. Roman was constantly met with this kind of discouragement throughout her school years and early career, of which she reflects
“only a firm dedication to the goal of an astronomical career – coupled with the conviction, by the end of my first year in college, that physical science was much easier for me than social sciences and humanities – kept me in this field in spite of outside pressures.”
Dr. Roman’s speech is tailored to a college student audience, reflecting on her own journey into science, and highlighting the new opportunities for women to be hired as scientists and engineers in the NASA space program. In order to illustrate the diversity of career roles and journeys available, Dr. Roman shares the stories of several of her female colleagues, including their contributions to science, their path into science, and how they successfully managed to balance their scientific career with societal pressures and home life.
These scientists included: Dr. Marcia Neugebauer
Many of these women were featured heavily in local news and women’s magazines
An Astronomer’s Path to Space
Item 6: An Astronomer’s Path to Space [Draft Speech.] Women’s Space Symposium, February 22, 1962. Folder 7, Box 7, Nancy Grace Roman Papers, 1931-1993. Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740
This is a corrected draft copy of a speech Dr. Roman gave at the Women‘s Space Symposium in Los Angeles, California, in February 1962. This draft shows Dr. Roman’s edits and corrections in her own hand prior to the speech. Like the “Role of Women in the Space Program” speech she would give the following year (Item 5 above), the speech is aimed at young women, and she shares her own personal path to becoming an astronomer and Chief of the Astronomy and Solar Programs at NASA. She also gives practical advice for those considering going to grad school and navigating the field of modern astronomy. This speech is an example of several public outreach talks Dr. Roman gave encouraging women and girls to consider a career in astronomy. In fact, the speech references a Career Day talk at Goucher College, a women’s college in Baltimore, MD, that she gave only days earlier.
Here is an example quote showing some of the corrections done by Dr. Roman regarding her advice to future astronomers:
Corrections to an Astronomer’s Path to Space
“I am often asked how I, a woman, got into a job such as this. The story is a long one. Like most children, at the age of eleven or twelve, I found astronomy interesting. However, unlike the majority, I decided at that time that I wanted to be an astronomer and nothing ever made me change my mind. I realized that to be an astronomer, I would need a great deal of mathematics and physics, and would need a long course of studying, but decided I would aim for this goal; if I was not able to achieve it, I could do something in math or physics instead, probably teaching. [^Although] I majored in astronomy at Swarthmore College, few colleges in this country gave an undergraduate major in astronomy. This is no handicap as graduate schools do not expect you to have had any astronomy before obtaining your B.A., or B.S. degree., but they do expect a good background in mathematics and physics. Even [^ with an astronomy major] I took more [^courses in] mathematics and physics than [^in] astronomy. Without these you will find it difficult to cope with graduate school courses.
Item 7: Large Space Telescope – a New Tool for Science. [Conference Proceedings] American Institute of Aeronautics (AIAA) 12th Aerospace Sciences meeting, Washington, D.C. January 30-February 1, 1974. Folder 5, Box 2, Nancy Grace Roman Papers, Addition, 1934-2006. Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740
This conference proceedings booklet from January 1974 focuses on the scientific potential and capabilities of the then recently proposed Large Space Telescope (LST), better known now as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Dr. Roman was one of the organizers of this conference, and she presented a paper entitled “LST--The National Space Observatory Concept”. Among the speakers was astronomer Lyman Spitzer
The Space Telescope by Robert W. Smith on display at the June 5th Trimble Lecture (left) open to the Superman LST comic.
Item 8: Smith, Robert W. The Space Telescope: A Study of NASA, science, technology, and politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Also on display at the lecture was the book The Space Telescope: A Study of NASA, science, technology, and politics by Robert W. Smith (while this book is not from Dr. Roman’s papers, it is held in the NBL&A collections
We hope you enjoyed this glimpse at some of these items from the Nancy Grace Roman Papers! To learn more about Dr. Roman and her life, be sure to check out some of the other resources from the Niels Bohr Library & Archives linked below.
Oral History: In August 1980, Dr. Roman sat down with David DeVorkin to do an oral history interview for AIP. You can listen to an excerpt of Dr. Roman discussing the role of politics in government science organization from the interview here
Dr. Roman was also recently featured in our Ex Libris Universum blog post “Women Leaders in Astronomy”
We also have:
The Roman Collection
Finding Aids to the Nancy Grace Roman archival collections at NBLA:
Other Materials on Nancy Grace Roman at NBLA
For more on Dr. Roman also see her NASA Profile