What did Annie Jump Cannon discover?

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

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.

What did Annie Jump Cannon discover?

Annie Jump Cannon discovered 300 variable stars, five novas, and a double star. She was the first astronomer to develop a simple spectral classification system. She classified 400,000 stars, a feat that no one else before her had achieved.