Elizabeth Brown

Elizabeth Brown (6 August 1830 – 5 March 1899) was a British astronomer and Quaker who specialized in solar observation, especially sunspots and solar eclipses. She was instrumental in founding the British Astronomical Association and was also one of the first women Fellows of the Royal Meteorological Society. After this release of domestic and filial duties, she began to travel the world to make observations of solar eclipses, publishing two anonymous accounts of her travels. Jemima looked after the astronomical instruments that Elizabeth had bequeathed to the Association.

The British Astronomical Association accepted women as members from its start, unlike the Royal Astronomical Society. Brown was one of three women proposed for fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1892, but all three controversially failed to attract sufficient votes for election (the other two were Alice Everett and Annie Russell; similarly, the nomination of Isis Pogson had been rejected in 1886). She was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Meteorological Society on 19 April 1893.

Elizabeth Brown travelled widely to seek for solar eclipses, an adventure she describes in her work In Pursuit of a Shadow (1887). The title of the book reveals the influence of the earlier Quaker meteorologist Luke Howard who famously used the phrase to describe his work on clouds. A second set of memoirs, Caught in the Tropics, appeared in 1890. Her daily recording of sunspots, including meticulous drawings, earned her a distinguished reputation.

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