On this International Women’s Day in 2023 Dr Toner Stevenson reveals what we can learn from the past when we investigate women’s, sometimes unacknowledged, contribution to Australia’s astronomical history. This year we learn about Mary Acworth Evershed (nee Orr) (1867–1949) – astronomer, author, eclipse chaser.

The cover of Easy Guide to the Southern Stars by M.A. Orr, 1896. Photograph: T. Stevenson.

A few months ago a small but precious parcel arrived in my letterbox. As I delicately unwrapped the parcel, which was wrapped in many layers of tissue and bubble wrap to protect it, I had to contain my excitement to be sure not to damage its contents.

Inside was a first edition of Mary Acworth Orr’s Easy Guide to the Southern Stars, published in 1896. This was the first popular star guide with maps and explanations of adjustments for different southern hemisphere locations. It was the first version of a popular astronomy book written for anyone with an interest in the stars and constellations – a 19^th Century version of Dr Nick Lomb’s Australasian Skyguide.

On the dark blue cover is an illustration of how the sky would look in June above a light sketch of Sydney town as it was in that era. The Southern Cross and ‘The Pointers’, which Orr explains are part of the constellation Centaurus, are high in the sky and easily identifiable. There is an index to each constellation and in the introduction Orr wrote:

“After the indescribable Southern sunset, when the opaline tints in a pure high sky have faded into deep blue, the Southern stars  shine out, burning with a steady glow, unlike the flash and sparkle of British skies. Does it not add to one’s pleasure to name the brightest lights and most beautiful groups…” (1)

Mary Acworth Orr portrait. Collections Science Museum Group, John Evershed Archive, London EVER/A/3/E252. Creative commons, colourised image T. Stevenson.

Mary Orr arrived in Australia from England with her mother and sisters in 1890. She visited John Tebbutt, Australia’s best known amateur astronomer, before moving to the Clarence River, New South Wales, and then on to Queensland. In 1891 Orr was elected a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, which included Tebbutt in its membership (2). While in Australia she studied the stars and wrote her book, she also travelled in Australia and New Zealand and she collected plants as well as observing the stars. Her book was recommended to readers by newspaper columnists (3) and was republished several times over the next three decades. Tebbutt, who had his own substantial observatory at Windsor, wrote the preface remarking:

“…I believe we may safely trust the accuracy of the enterprising authoress.” (1)

In 1895 Orr returned to England, and a year later became a member of the British Astronomical Association (BAA).

It was during my research into total solar eclipses for the Eclipse Chasers book that I came across Mary Orr again. Her first total solar eclipse expedition was to Vadsø, Norway and she sent a report back to Australia describing the eclipse. This paper was read at the meeting of the  New South Wales Branch of the BAA on 21 October 1896 (4). At the Vadsø eclipse Orr met her future husband, John Evershed, and in 1906 they married and moved to India, where Evershed was appointed assistant director of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory. Five years later he became the Director. John Evershed acknowledged Orr’s work on several research papers.

In 1916, bemoaning the lack of reference books, Orr published a philosophical book which examined the works of Dante and referred to the ancient astronomers including Hipparchus, Aristotle and Ptolemy. Thanks to Project Gutenberg you can download and read this book, Dante and the Early Astronomers, on-line (5).

Mary and John Evershed photographed adjusting the coelostat, required to track the Sun during the eclipse. Lick Observatory Photographs UA36 Ser.7/ Special Collections and Archives, University Library, UC Santa Cruz. Photograph: Ernest Brandon-Cremer. Colourised image, N. Lomb.

As I was researching the 1922 total solar eclipse expedition to Wallal, Western Australia, which was led by Lick Observatory for the recently published Eclipse Chasers book, I became aware of Orr’s expertise and participation (6). There were five women on this expedition which had as its main objective to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity – Elizabeth Campbell (Lick Observatory, California),  Elizabeth and  Jean Chant (Toronto, Canada) , Eleanor Adams (New Zealand) and Mary Acworth Evershed (India). Each woman contributed to the scientific work. Orr photographed the spectra of the corona and helped set-up other instruments.

There is no doubt that Orr was an astrophysicist as she became an expert in the science which a total solar eclipse made possible and she participated in at least 5 eclipse expeditions, and perhaps more. Orr was also an historian and founded the Historical Section of the BAA in 1930 (7).

Mary Acworth Orr was an extraordinary woman with a passion for the natural sciences. Her plant collections can be found in the Natural History Museum, London, and her work in astrophysics marks her as one of many women who undertook scientific research without pay, as wives and daughters of lead astronomers. Fortunately, she did collect royalties from her books.

REFERENCES

1. Orr, M.A. (1896) Southern stars : a guide to the constellations visible in the southern hemisphere / by M.A. Orr. with preface by John Tebbutt : with a miniature star atlas. London: Gall and Inglis.
2. Minutes of the Meetings of the Directors, November 16 and 28, 1891, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1891PASP….3..381.
3. SMH 27 Jan 1897, Town Gossip 20 Mar 1897
4. 1896 ‘British Astronomical Association.’, Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 – 1931), 22 October, p. 4. , viewed 07 Mar 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108218119
5. Orr, M.A. (1916) Dante and the Early Astronomers, London: Gall and Inglis.
6. Lomb, N. Stevenson, T.M (2023) Eclipse Chasers, Clayton South, Victoria: CSIRO publishing.
7. Brück, M. T, (1998) ‘Mary Ackworth Evershed née Orr (1867–1949), solar physicist and Dante scholar’, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 45–59.

If you would like to read more on women in astronomy, Toner writes:
‘I have found it important to understand that even if women were rarely heard because they were behind the scenes, and often physically as well as academically ‘hidden’, they had creative input, hopes and dreams’. Past #IWD blog posts and videos include:

Women who supported male astronomers
Women who measured the stars and who were called ‘computers’
Women who stood up for each other against bullying in the workplace
Women who broke down education barriers
A woman who spent her life championing equality
Miriam Chisholm: photographer, historian and eclipse chaser!

Dr Toner Stevenson is an Honorary affiliate in the History Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney.