Charlotte Sitterly, American Astronomer

Charlotte Emma Moore Sitterly (September 24, 1898 - March 3, 1990) was an American astronomer. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1920 and went on to Princeton to assist Henry Norris Russell. During this time she worked at the Princeton University Observatory and the Mt. Wilson Observatory. While at Princeton, Moore's interest in astrophysics began to blossom. She worked extensively on solar spectroscopy, analyzing the spectral lines of the Sun and thereby identifying the chemical elements in the Sun. She met and married Bancroft W. Sitterly, a physics professor, in 1937. She joined the then National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1945. Her tables of atomic spectra and energy levels, published by NBS, have remained essential references in spectroscopy for decades. She extended her work to the ultraviolet spectral lines. In 1949 she became the first woman elected as an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain, in honor of her work on multiplet tablets and in identifying solar spot electra. She died in 1990 at the age of 91

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Astronomer Astrophysicist Astrophysics Atomic Enhancement Solar Spectra Spectral Spectroscopist Spectroscopy Ultraviolet

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