40 - New Mexico, Carolyn Shoemaker
My first pick for New Mexico was unfortunately ruled out as she was not born in New Mexico, so I had to start from scratch (the original person to make it on a intermission week). Finding Carolyn Shoemaker brought to light the comet of 1994 that I remember with interest in my high school.
New Mexico was the 32nd state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment on February 21, 1920.
Ms. Shoemaker joined her husband, Eugene Shoemaker after meeting him, riveted by his work. She was not a trained or educated scientist, but her patience and “stereoscopic vision” were assets that made her welcome to California Institute of Technology and his team. She met Eugene as her brother, Richard’s, roommate in college when he served as best man at Richard’s wedding.
As pen-pals, he finished his post graduate work at Princeton, and they married in 1951. They had a family with her as a teacher and mother. People that knew her recognized she was driven to be more than a teacher. Once her children left the house, she was able to look for more collaborations. A student at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ began teaching her astronomy in 1980 at the age of 51. She joined Eugene’s team as a field assistant to map asteroids.
She continued to build her opportunities and worked at many universities in the Southwest. Eugene and Carolyn joined with David H. Levy, and together they found the Shoemaker-Levy 9, a fragmented comet orbiting the planet Jupiter on March 24, 1993. It collided with Jupiter twelve times between July 14-21, 1994.
As of 2002, Ms. Shoemaker had been credited with finding 32 comets and more than 800 asteroids.
Why this woman?
Seeing Carolyn come up as a New Mexico native was interesting to relate the comet that I remember following on the news. In 1994, I was a sophomore in high school, starting to grow in my interests for different classes. At that point I was leaning toward the math and architecture side in lieu of math and science classes, but most of my family connected to these news bursts.
Now reading the life path of the Shoemakers brings the familiarity of my family to the forefront. My parents met with similar relationship of writing to each other after meeting while working over the summer together. Their pen-pal relationship grew to connect them and they married a few years later. My mom was a science teacher, but didn’t maintain her career while my sisters and I grew up. Once my sister and I were in high school, she started her career in accounting as a second career.
Carolyn was a partner and collaborator, using her personality of patience and care to lead her passion throughout her life. More than being trained or educated, she was a natural that was excited about the things she learned and conversations she and Gene had together. Their intelligence was a shared passion. They communicated with each other in science, technology, and love. That strength made them a duo that found amazing things, expanding our knowlegde of the solar system!
New Mexico was the 32nd state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment on February 21, 1920.
Ms. Shoemaker joined her husband, Eugene Shoemaker after meeting him, riveted by his work. She was not a trained or educated scientist, but her patience and “stereoscopic vision” were assets that made her welcome to California Institute of Technology and his team. She met Eugene as her brother, Richard’s, roommate in college when he served as best man at Richard’s wedding.
As pen-pals, he finished his post graduate work at Princeton, and they married in 1951. They had a family with her as a teacher and mother. People that knew her recognized she was driven to be more than a teacher. Once her children left the house, she was able to look for more collaborations. A student at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ began teaching her astronomy in 1980 at the age of 51. She joined Eugene’s team as a field assistant to map asteroids.
She continued to build her opportunities and worked at many universities in the Southwest. Eugene and Carolyn joined with David H. Levy, and together they found the Shoemaker-Levy 9, a fragmented comet orbiting the planet Jupiter on March 24, 1993. It collided with Jupiter twelve times between July 14-21, 1994.
As of 2002, Ms. Shoemaker had been credited with finding 32 comets and more than 800 asteroids.
Why this woman?
Seeing Carolyn come up as a New Mexico native was interesting to relate the comet that I remember following on the news. In 1994, I was a sophomore in high school, starting to grow in my interests for different classes. At that point I was leaning toward the math and architecture side in lieu of math and science classes, but most of my family connected to these news bursts.
Now reading the life path of the Shoemakers brings the familiarity of my family to the forefront. My parents met with similar relationship of writing to each other after meeting while working over the summer together. Their pen-pal relationship grew to connect them and they married a few years later. My mom was a science teacher, but didn’t maintain her career while my sisters and I grew up. Once my sister and I were in high school, she started her career in accounting as a second career.
Carolyn was a partner and collaborator, using her personality of patience and care to lead her passion throughout her life. More than being trained or educated, she was a natural that was excited about the things she learned and conversations she and Gene had together. Their intelligence was a shared passion. They communicated with each other in science, technology, and love. That strength made them a duo that found amazing things, expanding our knowlegde of the solar system!
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