Agnes Mary Clerke and the Moon

Astronomer and scientific writer Agnes Mary Clerke was born in Skibbereen in 1842. She and her sister Ellen did not receive a formal education (their brother Aubrey went to boarding school and later to Trinity College Dublin); instead, they were taught at home by their parents. Agnes took up astronomy at the age of 11, later translating some of the scientific books in her father’s library from German, Latin, Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, and Portuguese into English. By the age of fifteen, Agnes had begun to write a history of astronomy – a work that would later become known as her magnum opus.

The family moved to Dublin in 1861, and six years later Agnes and Ellen travelled to Italy, eventually moving to Florence in 1873. In Florence, Agnes first started writing for the Edinburgh Review, completing 54 articles over 30 years on a variety of topics including science, antiquities, and literature. She was also commissioned to write for Encyclopedia Britannia in 1879 and published a book, A Popular History of Astronomy, in 1885. Her writing was praised for being clear enough for anyone to understand it, not just people with scientific backgrounds. Her work was very well-received and brought her into contact with leading astronomers worldwide.

Sir David Gill, Director of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope met Agnes in London in 1887 and invited her to study in South Africa in 1888. He tried unsuccessfully to have her admitted to the Royal Astronomical Society but, as a woman, she was not allowed to use its library. At around the same time, Agnes was offered a job at Greenwich Observatory, in London, but she turned it down because Greenwich was not safe at night for women.

Agnes continued to write on a variety of topics, such as the system of the stars in 1890 and problems in astrophysics in 1903. She was elected a member of the Royal Institution in 1902. She won the Royal Institution’s Actonian Prize of 100 guineas, which used to be awarded for ‘writings illustrative of the wisdom and beneficence of God.’ Other past winners have included Marie Curie and Alexander Fleming.

Her last book, Modern Cosmogonies was published in 1905. It was an account of the theories of the origin and evolution of the universe, covering the period from ancient Greece to the time of her writing.

She was finally made an honorary member of The Royal Astronomical Society in 1903. A source had said that: ‘it was felt that her membership ... could no longer be postponed.’

She died suddenly of pneumonia, aged 64, at the home which she had shared with her sister, 68 Redcliffe Square, in London. She was buried nearby in Brompton Cemetery.

In 1981, a crater on the moon, near the Apollo 17 landing site, was named the Clerke Crater by NASA in her honour. Around 30 craters on the moon have been named after members of the Royal Institution but only one is a woman. (Ada Lovelace and Mary Somerville attended lectures at the Royal Institution, but were not members.)

The Moon

The sleeping face in the card speaks to how the moon illuminates the sky while we are sleeping, a time when our subconscious communicates with us in dream state. Important messages and guidance are contained within our dreams and they often put us in touch with our inner voice. Our inner knowing can remind us to stand our ground and follow our own path – like Agnes, who dedicated her life to the pursuit of knowledge, despite being denied the education and professional opportunities that her male peers enjoyed. The moon moves through its phases in its own time, a reminder to let things take the time they need, like Agnes’ magnum opus, A Popular History of Astronomy, a book that took her 28 years to write. The Moon card invites us to treat the phases of our lives as opportunities. There may be unknown paths ahead of us, but the card asks us to trust our intuition and let our inner wisdom guide us.

Sources

Dictionary of Irish Biography

RTÉ Archives