Julie Vinter Hansen

Julie Marie Vinter Hansen (20 July 1890 – 27 July 1960) was a Danish astronomer. She was the first woman in Denmark to earn an academic degree in astronomy.

Life

Early life Vinter Hansen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Education

While studying at the University of Copenhagen, she was appointed as a computer at the university's observatory in 1915. She was the first woman to hold an appointment at the university. She was later appointed observatory assistant and, in 1922, observer.

Career

Editor of Nordic Astronomy Review

She was a very energetic worker, who, along with her normal work of observing and performing mathematical reductions of observations took on the task of editing the Nordisk Astronomisk Tidsskrift (Nordic Astronomy Review). and continued her career at the University of Copenhagen until 1960.

Death

Julie Vinter Hansen died in 1960, from a heart-failure just days before her retirement, in her beloved vacation destination, the Swiss mountain village of Mürren, and was buried in Copenhagen. The minor planet 1544 Vinterhansenia, discovered by Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma in the 1940s, was named in her honour.

Awards

Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog (1956) Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (1940) Martin Kellogg Fellowship Tagea Brandt Rejselegat Award.