Today marks the 121st birthday of Helen M. Thomas!
Born Helen Meriwether Lewis on August 21, 1905 in New York, she began her early education in the city and continued her high school years at St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, VA. Helen earned her AB from Radcliffe College in 1928 in government, but her interest in astronomy was inspired by undergraduate work at the Harvard College Observatory (HCO), where she assisted Professor Willem Luyten in identifying white dwarf stars.
Helen married Frederick M. Thomas shortly after her graduation and they had one son. The marriage ended and Helen found employment in many organizations. She worked for three years as secretary to Leon Campbell, head of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), then affiliated with the HCO. She joined the Observatory staff under the remarkable astronomer Cecelia Payne-Goposchkin. During the late 1930s, Helen began work towards a PhD in the History of Science under supervision of Harvard professor George Sarton, preparing a thesis on the history of variable star observations from the 2nd century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. At the beginning of World War II, her graduate work was interrupted by war work, and her degree was not awarded until 1948.
Helen was “drafted” first into the Harvard Radio Research Laboratory and, shortly after, into the MIT Radiation Laboratory, where she worked with science historian Henry Guerlac, preparing a history of the laboratory. In 1947 she was named a senior engineer at Raytheon Manufacturing Co, where she remained until 1954, working on guidance systems.
Helen lived for a time at 55 Langdon Street in Cambridge. She returned to MIT as an editor and head of publications at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics until her retirement in 1971.
In 1986, she was awarded a $50K prize by Trans World Airlines (TWA) for accurately predicting, thirty years before, the range, cruising speed, passenger capacity, and use of jet engines by commercial airlines (earning a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records). She died shortly before her ninety-second birthday, and a memorial service was held at Christ Church, Cambridge.
To learn the stories of more trailblazing women like Helen Meriwether Thomas, visit the Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project database: https://cwhp.cambridgema.gov/
