Elizabeth Martha Beckley Explained

Elizabeth Martha Beckley (c.1846-6 August 1927) was a pioneering British astronomical photographer.^{[1] [2] [3]}

She was the daughter of Robert Beckley, a mechanical engineer based at Kew Observatory, who developed the Beckley rain gauge and the Robinson-Beckley anemometer with Thomas Romney Robinson.^{[1] [4]}

Beckley worked at Kew Observatory from 1854 while still a young girl, where she was one of the first women to work at an astronomical observatory.^[5] She photographed the sun in the 1860s and 1870s using a photoheliograph.^[1]

Beckley married fellow Kew Observatory employee George Mathews Whipple (15 September 1842-8 February 1893) in 1870.^{[5] [6] [7]} They had five sons. The eldest was Robert Whipple, who was a scientific instrument collector, and founded the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge.^[1] While another was Francis Whipple, who was superintendent at Kew Observatory from 1925 to 1939.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 'Work peculiarly fitting to a lady': Elizabeth Beckley and the early years of solar photography. Lee. Macdonald. 9 March 2017. conscicom.org. 6 May 2019.
2. News: 12 August 1927 . Death of Mrs G M Whipple . 5 . Saffron Walden Weekly News . 24 August 2022.
3. News: 12 August 1927 . Deaths . 16 . Saffron Walden Weekly News . 24 August 2022.
4. Web site: Two parts of Beckley recording rain gauge Science Museum Group Collection . 2022-08-24 . collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk . en.
5. https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ptolemy-photography-and-pyjamas/ Ptolemy, Photography and Pyjamas. Science Museum website.
6. 1893Obs....16..141. Page 141 . 2022-08-24 . The Observatory. 1893 . 16 . 141 . 1893Obs....16..141. .
7. Web site: Elizabeth Martha Beckley b. 1845 Battersea, Surrey, England: Whipple Database . 2022-08-24 . whipple.one-name.net.
8. Book: Who Was Who 1941-1950. 1980. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. 0-7136-2131-1. Entry of Francis John Welsh Whipple.