SPOTLIGHT ON "Census Taker of the Sky"

 She was born in Dover, Delaware. Her father, Wilson Cannon, was a Delaware shipbuilder and state senator.  Her mother taught her the constellations and stimulated her interest in astronomy.  She was nearly deaf throughout her career.  Cannon studied physics and astronomy at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, one of the top academic schools for women in the U.S. where she graduated as valedictorian. She continued her studies at Radcliffe.  When she finished her studies at Radcliffe, she got a job at the Harvard Observatory, working for the renowned Edward C. Pickering.

 It was there that she developed her system for classifying stars. She combined two known models to create her own spectral division, the simplified classes O, B, A, F, G, K, M. The system was adopted as the universal standard and given the mnemonic device "Oh, Be A Fine Girl--Kiss Me!" which is still used today.  During her time at Harvard, she cataloged 225,300 stars and discovered 300 variable stars, in addition to 5 novae, a class of exploding stars.  Her work was published in the Henry Draper Catalogue over the course of nine volumes between 1881 and  Cannon and Pickering are credited with developing the Harvard Classification System.  Under Pickering, Cannon and a group of other revolutionary women became known as the “Harvard Observatory computers.”

Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me Our Sun is class G Kelvin - unit of measure for temperature based upon an absolute scale.

 In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics.  Light from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with absorption lines.  Each line indicates an ion of a certain chemical element, with the line strength indicating the abundance of that ion.  The relative abundance of the different ions varies with the temperature of the photosphere.  The spectral class of a star is a short code summarizing the ionization state, giving an objective measure of the photosphere's temperature and density.

 honorary doctorate from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands  first woman recipient of an honorary doctorate from Oxford University  on the front page of Scientific American  listed as one of twelve "greatest living women" from the National League of Women Voters  1931, received the Henry Draper Gold Medal of the National Academy of Sciences.  1932, won the Ellen Richards prize from the Association to Aid Scientific Research by Woman  honorary degree from Oglethorpe University  First woman elected as officer of the American Astronomical Society

 The Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy is awarded annually since 1934 to a woman astronomer in North America  The lunar crater Cannon is named after her.  The asteroid 1120 Cannonia is named after her.  Cannon Hall, a residence dormitory at the University of Delaware, named in her honor  Named Curator of Astronomical Photographs at Harvard  Member of the Royal Astronomical Society in Europe  Honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Wellesley College  Charter member of the Maria Mitchell Association