Category: WAVE

“Our purpose in life is to help others along the way.”

Sandra Day was born in 1930 and grew up on a remote cattle ranch in Arizona. For the first years of her life, her home had no running water or electricity! She grew up herding cattle and learned how to use a shotgun. She had a passion for reading. Her parents realized that educational opportunities were limited from their home, so she was sent to live with her grandmother in El Paso where she attended school.

She graduated high school at age 16 and was accepted into Stanford, where graduated at the top of her class with a Batchelor degree in economics. She entered Stanford Law School in 1952. She served on the Law Review, where she worked under future Supreme Court justice Wiliam Rehnquist. He moved on to a law career in Washington DC. Sandra Day, on the other hand, having graduated in the top 10% of her class, in 2 years instead of the usual 3, could not find a job as an attorney because of her gender. She was offered a job as a legal secretary but decided to volunteer as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California. This ultimately resulted in a small salary.

Sandra Day married John Jay O’Connor after graduation from law school. They settled in Arizona and raised three boys. O’Connor began her political career here, serving as assistant Attorney General, followed by a seat in the Arizona Senate.

Ronal Reagan nominated O’Connor to the Supreme Court in 1981, and when she was appointed, she became the FIRST WOMAN to achieve this outstanding accomplishment.  She served from 1981-2006, when she stepped down to spend time with her family.

During retirement, she realized an opportunity to teach young Americans about government and how they can participate. She created the iCivics interactive program in 2009 which engages 9 million middle school children every year.

She passed on December 1, 2023 at age 93. She was known for her clear thinking, endless energy, work ethic, and ability to balance family and career. One of her more notable attributes was the open respect that she showed to all individuals, even her dissenters. She would engage her colleagues on the Supreme Court to gather for lunch after their discussions.

The remarkable Woman was Ambitious in her pursuit of knowledge. When faced with challenges, she persevered and molded the situation into something more equitable. She lived a life of Virtue, and valued the Empowering opportunities when they arose. She is an inspiration for everyone. Her contributions will endure.

Text and photo credit of Wikipedia.org

Sandra Day O’Connor being sworn into Supreme Court by Chief Justice Warren Burger as her husband John look on.

“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are”

              from a poem by Jane Taylor

This remarkable WAVE was born in England in 1900 and always knew she wanted to be a scientist. She entered Cambridge University, and chanced to hear a lecture by an astronomer named Arthur Eddington who spoke on Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. She was exhilarated at the transformation of her view of the universe and decided to study astrophysics. Because of limited opportunities for her at Cambridge, she went to the United States to study at Harvard at age 23.

Her studies led her to study the spectrum of light that is emitted by stars as the light passes through prisms that are attached to telescopes. Each element gives off a particular pattern of different wavelengths, almost like a fingerprint. Payne was able to show that variation in patterns of stars was due largely to the temperature, and not to variations in composition. Her work showed that most stars, like our sun, are composed largely of hydrogen and helium, the lighter elements. Prior to this, most scientists assumed that stars were made of heavier elements. She presented her findings in her thesis in 1925. Her work resulted in the first doctoral degree awarded by Harvard Observatory. It was considered a landmark paper, but because of her gender, she could only carry the title of “technical assistant.” It wasn’t until 1956 that she was made a full professor and chair of the astronomy department at Harvard.

I became aware of Cecelia Payne while attending a recent online public lecture given by Dr. Allison Strom, an assistant professor of Astrology at Northwestern University. She is a delightful and enthusiastic astronomer that studies the evolution of galaxies and the lifespan of stars. She heads a team of gifted scientists that interpret some of the data transmitted from the James Webb Telescope to try to understand how galaxies form, how stars are born and how they ultimately expire. Strom and her team acknowledge that many of the techniques they use were developed by Cecelia Payne, and she is their inspiration.

The achievements of ambitious and brilliant women are often underrated, but they persist because they are fueled by a passion for knowledge. Payne sought empowerment through an institution that would publish her research, and tolerated the lack of professor status. Because she was offered this opportunity and embraced it, we all benefit. As Cecelia Payne said,

“Your reward will be the widening of the horizon as you climb.

 And if you achieve that reward you will ask no other.”