Nan Dieter-Conklin

Nan Dieter-Conklin (1926 – November 16, 2014), also known as Nannielou Reier Hepburn Dieter Conklin, was an American radio astronomer.

Nan Dieter-Conklin
Nannielou H. Dieter, in the 1950s
Born
Nannielou Reier

1926 (1926)
Springfield, Illinois
Died (aged 88)
Seattle
Other namesNannielou Reier Hepburn Dieter Conklin, Nannielou H. Dieter
Alma materGoucher College (B.A.)
Radcliffe College (Ph.D.)
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsRadio astronomy
InstitutionsU.S. National Geodetic Survey
Naval Research Laboratory
Air Force Research Laboratory
Radio Astronomy Laboratory
InfluencesHelen Dodson Prince

Early life

Nannielou Reier was born in Springfield, Illinois, the daughter of Paul G. Reier.[1][2] She attended Goucher College[3] to study mathematics, but an astronomy course taught by Helen Dodson sparked her interest in that subject. Dieter spent summer internships at the Maria Mitchell Observatory, working under Margaret Harwood. She completed doctoral studies at Radcliffe College in 1958,[4] using her own radio astronomy data in her dissertation on Galaxy M33.[5] Her research involved the radio telescope at Harvard, and she took a Harvard course on variable stars from Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.[6][7] Astronomers Frank Drake and May Kaftan-Kassim were in Dieter's astronomy cohort at Harvard.[8]

Career

After college Nan Dieter worked for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. She was hired by the Naval Research Laboratory when they acquired a radio telescope. She published radio astronomy research[9][10] on solar flares[11] beginning in 1952,[7] and is credited as "the first US woman radio astronomer" based on that work (Ruby Payne-Scott, an Australian, is recognized as the first woman radio astronomer).[12][13] During her graduate work in Massachusetts, she was on the staff of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories at Hanscom Field. In 1965, having completed her doctorate, she joined the staff of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.[6][14]

Dieter-Conklin retired from Berkeley for health reasons in 1977, but continued to research and publish as she was able.[13] Her last scholarly articles, all concerning the composition of interstellar clouds, were published in 2009,[15] 2010, and 2014.[6] She also published a memoir, Two Paths to Heaven's Gate, in 2006.[16][17]

She was interviewed and photographed along with Vera Rubin and Paris Pişmiş as women astronomers attending the American Astronomical Society conference in Arizona in 1963.[18] In 1964 she won the first Patricia Kayes Glass Award, at the Air Force Science and Engineering Symposium held at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas.[19] She gave an oral history interview at Berkeley in 1977, looking back on her education and career.[8]

Personal life

Nan Dieter-Conklin was married to W. Peters Hepburn Jr. from 1950 to 1953, and to fellow scientist Carlisle L. Dieter. She had two daughters, born in 1951 and 1958.[20] She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1960. She married her third husband, Garret Conklin, in 1968; she was widowed when he died in 2002. She died in Seattle in 2014, aged 88 years.[6][13]

References
  1. "3 Baltimoreans Win Study Aid". The Evening Sun. May 17, 1957. p. 19. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Miss Reier Engaged". The Baltimore Sun. July 4, 1948. p. 38. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "15 Elected to Beta Unit at Goucher". The Evening Sun. April 22, 1948. p. 6. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Astronomer to Lecture". The Press Democrat. October 13, 1974. p. 8. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Dieter, Nannielou H. (1957). "Observations of Neutral Hydrogen in M 33". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 69 (409): 356–357. Bibcode:1957PASP...69..356D. doi:10.1086/127090. ISSN 0004-6280. JSTOR 40676582.
  6. Ellen Bouton, Claire Hooker, and Miller Goss, "Nannielou Reier Hepburn Dieter Conklin" National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
  7. Howes, Ruth H.; Herzenberg, Caroline L. (December 1, 2015). After the War: US Women in Physics. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. ISBN 9781681741581.
  8. David DeVorkin (1977), Oral history interview with Nan Dieter-Conklin. American Institute of Physics.
  9. Dieter, Nannielou H. (May 1964). "Neutral hydrogen near the north galactic pole". Astronomical Journal. 69: 288–293. Bibcode:1964AJ.....69..288D. doi:10.1086/109270. hdl:2027/mdp.39015095124775 – via Hathi Trust.
  10. Murray, Bruce C.; Dieter, Nannielou H. (1960). Tangential Velocity Measurements - an Independent Approach to Geodesy. Defense Technical Information Center.
  11. "Radio Blackouts Tied to Events on Sun's Surface". Lansing State Journal. March 29, 1953. p. 65. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Goss, M.; McGee, Richard (September 24, 2009). Under the Radar: The First Woman in Radio Astronomy: Ruby Payne-Scott. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. xvii. ISBN 9783642031410.
  13. Hamann, Emily (November 25, 2014). "A pioneer in her field, radio astronomer Nan Conklin dies at 88". NWNEWS.com. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  14. "2 New Galaxies Sighted". The San Francisco Examiner. January 9, 1971. p. 6. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Dieter-Conklin, Nan (March 2009). "Interstellar Clouds by Searchlight". The Astronomical Journal. 137 (4): 3920–3921. Bibcode:2009AJ....137.3920D. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/137/4/3920. ISSN 1538-3881.
  16. Conklin, Nan Dieter, 1926- (2006). Two paths to heaven's gate. National Radio Astronomy Observatory (U.S.). [Charlottesville, Va.]: National Radio Astronomy Observatory. ISBN 097004111X. OCLC 70901414.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. "Observatory Publishes Memoir of Pioneer Radio Astronomer". spaceref.com. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  18. Szekely, Susan (April 20, 1963). "Astronomers, Feminine Gender, Need Understanding Husbands". Tucson Daily Citizen. p. 35. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Aerospace Awards Presented". San Antonio Express. October 22, 1964. p. 14. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. Knox, John B. (August 8, 1961). "One of Few Radio Astronomers". The Daily Tribune. p. 10. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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