Was Annie Jump Cannon deaf?

Annie Jump was an American astronomer whose work defined the development of contemporary stellar classification.

circa 1900: American Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon (1863 – 1941), of Harvard University, at the time of receiving the degree of Master of Science from Oxford University. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Annie Jump Cannon was born on December 11, 1863, in Dover, Delaware, the United States as the eldest of three daughters born to Wilson Cannon (Delaware shipbuilder and state senator) and his second wife, Mary Jump.

Following her mother’s advice, Annie Jump pursued her love of astronomy. She attended Wilmington Conference Academy (today known as Wesley College). In 1880, she was sent enrolled at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she studied physics and astronomy.

Annie Jump became a valedictorian at Wellesley College, graduating with a degree in physics in 1884. She is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme which was the first serious attempt to organize and classify stars based on their temperatures and spectral types

Annie Jump died on April 13, 1941, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States at the age of 77. She passed away in a hospital after being ill for over a month.