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This post originally appeared on The Royal Society blog and is written by guest blogger Dr. Louise Devoy, Senior Curator of the Royal Observatory
Guest blogger Louise Devoy reflects on the first generation of paid female astronomers at Greenwich, who helped to prove that women could actively contribute to professional science.
Photo: The Royal Society
As we continue to mark the 80th anniversary of the election of the first female Fellows of the Royal Society, here’s a guest post from the Royal Observatory commemorating some earlier pioneering women in STEM:
In July 2025, Professor Michele Dougherty FRS was appointed as the sixteenth Astronomer Royal, the first female post-holder since the role began in 1675. It’s an exciting milestone moment that offers us a great opportunity to reflect on the first generation of paid female astronomers at Greenwich – the ‘Lady Computers’ of the 1890s – whose ingenuity, tenacity and perseverance proved that women could actively contribute to professional science.
Women have always played an important role in the life and work of the Observatory. With the Astronomer Royal expected to live onsite, it was natural for the women in his household to take an interest in the Observatory’s activities. For example, Margaret Flamsteed, wife of the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed FRS, took on the arduous task of assembling and publishing Flamsteed’s work after his death in 1719 to ensure that his catalogue of 3,000 accurate star positions would not be forgotten.
Over the centuries, successive generations of wives, daughters and sisters supported the Astronomer Royal by receiving guests, providing illustrations for books, and even accompanying their husbands on eclipse expeditions. As demonstrated by surviving letters in the RGO Archives and the Royal Society Archives, we can see how they were embedded within a network of astronomers’ wives who took a keen interest in the scientific debates of the day.
As a graduate student in physics, I was often the only woman in the room. As I gained more experience, I learned valuable lessons about the scientific community and how to better advance my career. Once I started mentoring female graduate students, I realized that many of them had also felt alienated around some scientists, an experience that chipped away at their confidence or the passion for their work.
Over two decades of doing research and mentoring students, I have compiled some tools that give women the power to improve their own experiences in the STEM world. In 2019, I turned these resources into an experiential course called Tools for Women in STEM. Although the course is designed for women, all genders are welcome.
This is all easier said than done. Despite the many programs and initiatives implemented across the country since 2010, when the AAUW report came out, the percentage of women in many fields of science, technology, engineering and math continues to stay very low, with a trend that is flat at best. Even if they come into the field, many choose to leave.
What does the course explore?
To help young women navigate their professional lives in STEM, I start by taking each student on a personal journey, beginning by contextualizing their experiences in STEM. Students reflect on the shame triggers that can make them feel like they’re not good enough even when their record is stellar, as well as any biases they may have about others. Self-awareness is an essential starting point.
Prepped by videos and papers, students practice these skills and discuss strategies in small groups. This model provides an opportunity for collaboration and for assimilating and sharpening all the skills covered in the course.
Take mentoring as an example. Students practice reaching out to potential mentors and establishing a new mentoring relationship. Through discussion, students learn to both receive and provide useful feedback. When students have a safe, trusting environment, they’re more inclined to try out new things.
During the last month of the course, students practice communicating effectively in a wide range of circumstances characteristic of a STEM career. They focus on one type of communication each week: scientific presentations, posters, research group meetings and outreach, all important skills in a STEM job that aren’t always formally taught.
We wrap up the course with a “Women in STEM” outreach event that is fully created and implemented by the students themselves. This event has ranged from organizing a STEM research fair, speaking to undergrads about bridges between STEM and real life, and collecting sticky notes from researchers about their experiences in STEM.
Graduate students in the Tools for Women in STEM course collected sticky notes about other researchers’ experiences in the STEM field as part of the course.Filomena Nunes
As students work together in a safe, trusting environment, they develop their own voices and gain confidence. And the connections established during the course can continue throughout their graduate program.
Why is this course relevant now?
Today, women in STEM have higher expectations for their workplace than those of previous generations, and they are less tolerant of toxic environments. Courses like this can empower students to advocate for a better experience and promote a healthy culture for women in STEM.
Women aren’t the only group underrepresented in STEM. Instruction that tailors these lessons to the challenges faced by other identity groups could help many other students succeed.
Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.
On July 30, 2025, Michele Dougherty became the first woman Astronomer Royal in the United Kingdom. It is only the latest achievement in Dougherty’s long astronomical career, and one she never envisioned as a child.
Dougherty grew up in South Africa and became interested in astronomy and the stars through her father. He built a telescope when she was ten and showed Dougherty Jupiter’s moons and Saturn. Though Dougherty enjoyed the experience, she didn’t pursue science in secondary school. Still, her enjoyment of science and math stuck with her, strong support for the idea that building science capital in children by the age of 11 is impactful for their involvement in science and math later in life.
When Dougherty arrived at the University of Natal, she decided to study mathematics and science despite not having a strong secondary school background in these subjects. Dougherty says of this experience, “It was like learning a new language,” but that didn’t stop her from ultimately succeeding. She got her Bachelor’s degree in mathematics before moving to physics for her graduate degree. She graduated in 1988, with her PhD work focused on wave-particle interactions in dispersive and anisotropic media.
Michele Dougherty addressing the Royal Astronomical Society in 2015.
Dougherty completed a fellowship in mathematics in Germany before moving to London, where she joined Imperial College in 1991. Dougherty is a professor of space physics, and she was head of the Department of Physics at Imperial from 2018 until 2024. Dougherty has been the principal investigator for major planetary space missions, notably the magnetometer instrument on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn, and the European Space Agency's JUICE mission, which will explore Jupiter’s icy moons starting in 2031. She led the work that discovered an atmosphere containing water and hydrocarbons around Saturn’s moon Enceladus, a critical finding in the search for extraterrestrial life.
The position of Astronomer Royal dates back to 1675 and is officially appointed by the British monarch. King Charles II appointed the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. Flamsteed’s main role was observing and cataloging stars to create navigational maps. Flamsteed and several of his successors are credited with establishing a tradition of extensive research and precise astronomical observations.
The position has changed somewhat, in that the Astronomer Royal now holds the title along with their current roles. Michele Dougherty is currently the Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the President-elect of the Institute of Physics, as well as a professor at Imperial College. As the Astronomer Royal, she will serve as an ambassador for astronomy, space, and STEM in the UK and beyond, and an advisor to King Charles III in any matters of astronomy.
John Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal.
Painting by Thomas Gibson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Dougherty is aware of the importance of becoming the first woman Astronomer Royal, as she understands how younger women and girls can draw on her achievements to inspire their own. “I think when young children in particular see someone that looks like them doing a job they think they would never get an opportunity to do, it changes their mindset a little," shetold BBC News,
Dougherty joins another female astronomer, Catherine Heymans, who is the first female Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Heymans took on the role in 2021, and now both positions are held by women for the first time in history.
“For the last 350 years, the title of Astronomer Royal has been held by a white male astronomer, and that kind of reflected what the astronomical community has looked like for the last few centuries. But things are changing," she said.
"Science is becoming more diverse, which it needs to be if we want to answer these big questions, and I'm absolutely delighted now that the two Astronomers Royal across the UK are female, reflecting the fact that science is for everyone."
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