today’s scientist is an american astronomer named carolyn shoemaker, known for discovering over 32 comets and 800 asteroids.

 

shoemaker didn’t start out as a scientist. she earned her degrees in history, political science, and english literature, and had little to no interest in stargazing, astronomy, or science in general. in 1950, she met gene shoemaker, a scientist who would later go on to become a pioneer in astrogeology, at her brother’s wedding. in 1951, they married. shoemaker originally held a job as a teacher, but found that teaching was unfulfilling and quit to raise a family. when was 51 and her children had all grown up and moved out, she began looking for something to occupy her time, and inspired by her husband, she took up the odd hobby of astronomy.

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shoemaker was trained in astronomy by a student at lowell observatory. she then joined her husband in a project at caltech searching for earth-crossing asteroids. just that year she was hired at the united states geological survey. by 1989 she was working as an astronomy research professor at northern arizona university. among her countless discoveries, the most famous is comet shoemaker-levy 9, which she co-discovered with her husband and david levy. shoemaker-levy 9 was discovered orbiting jupiter in fragmented form, and collided with jupiter in 1994.

 

in 1997, shoemaker and her husband were involved in a car crash. gene was killed instantly, while carolyn survived but sustained many major injuries, and shoemaker continued her work in astronomy after her recovery. to the very end, gene and carolyn’s marriage was a symbiotic relationship. without carolyn, gene wouldn’t have made many of his most important discoveries—and yet, without gene, carolyn might never have even discovered her passion for astronomy.

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"My real love for the night skies developed while observing at Palomar Observatory in California, and that love has never diminished. [When I find the latest comet,] I want to dance."

-Carolyn Shoemaker

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(written 3/15/21)