Dorothea Klumpke

Who was Dorothea Klumpke?

Dorothea Klumpke Roberts (August 9, 1861 – October 5, 1942 ) was an American astronomer. In 1893, she became the first woman to earn a doctorate degree at the Sorbonne University. Dorothea Klumpke was born in San Francisco to Dorothea Mathilda (née Tolle) and John Gerard Klumpke (1825–1917). Her father was a German immigrant who came to California in 1850 with the Gold Rush and later became a successful realtor in San Francisco. She joined the Paris Observatory where her work consisted of measuring star positions, processing astrophotographs, and studying stellar spectra and meteorites. She was later appointed director of the observatory's Bureau of Measurements, a position she held for ten years. She married the amateur astronomer Isaac Roberts in 1901 and left the observatory to help him photograph all 52 of William Herschel's "areas of nebulosity".

Following his death, she compiled and published a catalogue of his work. Her parents married in 1855, and had five daughters and two sons.

Historical significance

In 1934, Klumpke was honored by the French president as a knight of the Legion of Honor.