Issue of October 16, 2026
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Ferah Munshi, Stella Kafka, and Ben Keller
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]
This week's issues:
1. The Life of Margaret Hamilton
2. SGMA's AAS #249 LGBTQ+ Resource Guide to Salt Lake City
3. Annie Jump Cannon recognized as a Legacy Honoree by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
4. Kites Rise Against the Wind: An Autobiography by Jocelyn Bell Burnell
5. Prof Lorraine Hanlon named Chair of ESA Space Science Advisory Committee
6. Study finds gendered messaging can backfire
7. Job Opportunities
8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
Margaret Hamilton (née Heafield) grew up surrounded by music, family, and a strong focus on education. She was born in Indiana, but she spent her childhood moving around the Midwest before spending her high school years in the Upper Peninsula. Hamilton enjoyed learning—her mother was a teacher and her father a philosopher. There was no question she would go to college; it was simply assumed.
Read more at
https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-life-of-margaret-hamilton.html
The SGMA committee compiled this resource guide, with the hope that it can help all LGBTQ+ attendees of the AAS 249th meeting gain a better sense of what to expect realistically when visiting Salt Lake City, have access to useful resources, and feel empowered to explore the local area.
Read more at
https://aas.org/comms/sgma/lgbtq-resource-guide-salt-lake-city-aas-249
By AMACAD
Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941) was a pioneering astronomer whose work cataloging stars was instrumental in the development of stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering (elected to the Academy in 1867), she is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme, the first serious effort to organize and classify stars based on their temperatures and spectral types.
Legacy Honorees are individuals who were not elected during their lifetimes; their accomplishments were overlooked or undervalued due to their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
Read more at
https://www.amacad.org/person/annie-jump-cannon
By Jocelyn Bell Burnell
This review chronicles my personal journey in astrophysics, starting with my education in Northern Ireland, training in physics in Scotland, and PhD research at Cambridge that led to the unexpected discovery of pulsars. It details the technical development of radio astronomy at the time, as well as my subsequent work in the early days of X-ray, infrared, and millimeter astronomy. Accounts of scientific progress are intertwined with personal stories of social and institutional challenges faced by women. Teaching, academic leadership, and public engagement became central later in my career, and I use these opportunities to address gender bias and promotion of equity and diversity in academia.
Read more at
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-astro-041525-010138
By University College Dublin
The European Space Agency (ESA) has appointed Professor Lorraine Hanlon as Chair of the Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC) for three years 2027-2029. Nominated by ESA Director of Science, Professor Carole Mundell, she has been appointed by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.
The SSAC is the senior advisory body to the Director of Science, acting as the Director General’s representative on all matters concerning space science included in the mandatory science programme of ESA. It is the main interpreter of the views and needs of the European scientific community as regards access to space experimentation and data exploitation in the mandatory science programmes.
Read more at
By New York University
Campaigns and initiatives aimed at advancing equity for girls and women often reference gender—“The future is female” or “Fight like a girl,” for instance. However, is such messaging effective in championing their abilities and in inspiring others?
A new study by a team of psychology researchers suggests it’s not. It shows that messages referencing gender in trumpeting female accomplishments in an activity can actually diminish perceptions of girls’ and women’s abilities—among children and adults of both genders. Moreover, these messages appear to reduce interest in participating in the activity itself.
Read more at
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1147636
Read the journal article at
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0002002
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
https://aas.org/comms/cswa/resources/Diversity#howtoincrease
- Assistant Professor of Engineering Physics, American University, Washington, DC
https://american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-Campus-Washington-DC/Assistant-Professor-of-Engineering-Physics_R4977
- Vera C. Rubin Astronomy Frontiers Fellowship, various institutions
https://lsstdiscoveryalliance.org/vera-c-rubin-astronomy-frontiers-fellowship/
- Astronomy Educator, Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, WI
https://www.indeed.com/job/astronomy-educator-40d1c6373d50e430
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