what to say about miss maria mitchell… she’s pretty much bad ass! maria mitchell (pronounced ma-RY-ah) was born in nantucket massachusetts in 1818. she was the first american woman to work as a professional astronomer. in 1848 she became the first woman member of the american academy of arts and sciences and a member of the american association for the advancement of sciences in 1850. in 1847 she discovered, using a telescope, a comet which was appropriately named miss mitchell’s comet. she was the first person, male or femele, to hold the post of professor of astronomy at vassar college and was the director of the observatory there. after discovering the difference in pay between herself and that of many young males at the college she insisted on a raise and she got it!