Today is
Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. The idea is to get bloggers worldwide to
post an article about a woman scientist or engineer to raise awareness on women in technology and shine a light on all the possible role models for women who want to pursue a career in this field.
Ada Lovelace, who inspired this event, lived in the 19th century. But there were women in science
before her. I want to take this opportunity and tell you about Aglaonike, a female astronomer in ancient Greece.
Aglaonike lived around 200 B.C., we know about her because she gets mentioned in
Plutarch and
Apollonius of Rhodes.
By her contemporaries she was regarded as a sorceress, who possessed the power to make the moon disappear at her will. Plato, Horace, and Virgil all refer to women from Thessaly with this particular skill.
Plutarch on the other hand does not appear to attribute her skills to magic or sorcery but to astronomical knowledge:
"she, through being thoroughly acquainted with the periods of the full moon when it is subject to eclipse, and, knowing beforehand the time when the moon was due to be overtaken by the earth's shadow, imposed upon the women, and made them all believe that she was drawing down the moon".after Women in science (Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie), p.25fAglaonike is therefore often regarded as one of the first female astronomers whom we know by name.
En Hedu'anna, who predates Aglaonike by 2000 years, is sometimes regarded as
the first. She was princess of Akkad and held the position of high priestess to the moon god Nanna in Ur, but she is most famously known for her hyms.
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