Agnes Mary Clerke

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AMC was a self-taught astronomer whose scientific writings won praise and recognition in the later nineteenth century. She published several authoritative texts and contributed to various periodicals. Her writings spanned a wide range of subjects including literature, politics and history as well as various sciences.
Portrait of Agnes Mary Clerke. Black and white portrait of Agnes Mary Clerke. She faces forward with a neutral expression and her hair is short, pulled away from her face. Though the photo appears to be slightly damaged along the bottom, her face and neck are framed and visible. She wears a shirt with a high collar, and what looks like a pendant necklace, though the damage to the photo makes what is on the pendant unclear.
Black and white photograph of Ellen Mary Clerke. She stands looking away from the camera towards her right, with her left hand on an elegant piece of wooden furniture, her right hand resting in front of her body. Her hair is up, with curls close to her head, and she wears a dark dress with cascades of lace at the cuffs and collar.

Milestones

10 February 1842
AMC was born at Skibbereen in Ireland, the middle one of three children.
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications, 2002.
831
By July 1877
AMC published her first two articles, Brigandage in Sicily and Copernicus in Italy, in the Edinburgh Review.
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications, 2002.
831
1885
AMC published in Edinburgh her first book, A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century.
British Library Catalogue.
20 January 1907
AMC died at her home in South Kensington of pneumonia caused in turn by influenza.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.
Dent, Elsie A. “Agnes Mary Clerke”. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, No. 2, pp. 81 - 4.
81

Biography

Birth and Family

10 February 1842
AMC was born at Skibbereen in Ireland, the middle one of three children.
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications, 2002.
831

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