Human Computer - Origins in Astronomy

Origins in Astronomy

The approach was taken for astronomical and other complex calculations. Perhaps the first example of organized human computing was by the Frenchman Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713–1765), when he divided the computation to determine timing of the return of Halley's Comet with two colleagues, Joseph Lalande and Nicole-Reine Lepaute. For some men, being a computer was a temporary position until they moved on to greater advancements. For women the occupation was generally closed, but this changed in the late 19th century with Edward Charles Pickering. His group was at times termed "Pickering's Harem."

Many of the women astronomers from this era were computers with possibly the best known being Henrietta Swan Leavitt.

Florence Cushman was another of the Harvard University computers from 1888 onward. Among her best known works was A Catalogue of 16,300 Stars Observed with the 12-inch Meridian Photometer. She also worked with Annie Jump Cannon.

Female computers normally earned half of what a male counterpart would.

The Indian mathematician Radhanath Sikdar was employed as a "computer" for the Great Trigonometric Survey of India in 1840. It was he who first identified and calculated the height of the world's highest mountain, later called Mount Everest.