Annie Scott Dill Maunder (née Russell) (14 April 1868 – 15 September 1947) was an Irish-British astronomer, who recorded the first evidence of the movement of sunspot emergence from the poles toward the equator over the sun's 11-year cycle. She was one of the leading astronomers of her time, but because of her gender, her contribution was often underplayed at the time. In 1916 she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society, 21 years after being refused membership because of her gender.
Early life and education
Annie Scott Dill Russell was born in 1868 in The Manse, Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, to William Andrew Russell and Hessy Nesbitt Russell (née Dill). Her father was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Strabane until 1882. Her mother was the daughter of a minister at the same church. Annie was one of six children brought up in a devoutly Christian household with a "serious minded upbringing." All of the children were talented, high-level academics. Her older sister, Hester Dill Russell (later Smith), studied medicine under Elizabeth Garrett Anderson at the London School of Medicine for Women. Hester qualified as the first exhibitioner in the final MB examination in 1891. Hester became a medical missionary in India and later married another medical missionary.
Annie and her sister Hester pursued secondary education at the Ladies Collegiate School in Belfast, which later became Victoria College. Winning a prize in an 1886 intermediate school examination at the age of 18, Annie was able to sit the Girton open entrance scholarship examination and was awarded a three-year scholarship of £35 annually.
Annie studied at Girton College, Cambridge, and in 1889 she passed the degree examinations with honours, as the top mathematician of her year at Girton. Here, she also ranked Senior Optime (equivalent to second class at other universities) in the university results list. Annie was the first woman from Ireland to receive this rank. Her mathematician tutor was a fellow of a men's college. He praised her for ability to "throw herself into her work with such success, in spite of being more than ordinarily handicapped, even for a woman, with insufficiency of preliminary training". However the restrictions of the period did not allow her to receive the bachelor's degree she had earned; Cambridge did not award degrees to women until 1948.
Personal life
Annie, aged 27, married Walter, aged 45, in a Presbyterian church in Greenwich on 28 December 1895. Walter and Annie had no children together; although, Walter had five children from a previous marriage. Annie was 17 years younger than Walter and only nine years older than his oldest son. The oldest of the children was 21 and the youngest was 7. Annie was described as having an active mind and a "lively imagination combined with a tireless zeal in seeking evidence and working out details before presenting any conclusions.” Walter died in 1928 at the age of 76. Annie died almost two decades later, aged 79, in Wandsworth, London in 1947.
Astronomical research
Work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich
In January 1890, Annie was told about a position at Greenwich that was available by her good friend Alice Everett. In response, Annie wrote many times to the Royal Observatory hoping to be considered for the position. Annie's father submitted a request for her to obtain the job, and a powerful promoter, Sir Robert Ball, wrote her a letter of recommendation. For a year, Annie worked as a mathematics mistress at the Ladies' High School on the island of Jersey until she was offered the position by the Chief Assistant, Herbert Hall Turner. In 1891, Annie began her work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, serving as one of the "lady computers" assigned to the solar department. This was a special department set up in 1873 to photograph the sun. Annie was offered £4 a month which she regarded as being barely enough to live on, as a teacher she had made £8 a year and was provided housing.