Catherine Octavia Stevens
Catherine Octavia Stevens (1865-1959) was an amateur astronomer who was Director of the British Astronomical Association Meteor Section from 1905 to 1911.[1]
She joined the British Astronomical Association on 27 May 1891.[2] On the 1911 census she gave her occupation as Astronomer, working for the British Astronomical Association.[3]
Her address on the 1911 census was The Plain, Foxcombe Hill, Oxford.[3], a house with an observatory at the top of Boars Hill, Oxford.[1] She lived there from 1910 to 1956.[1] Her first interest was the Sun and she made drawings of sunspots using a 3 inch refractor.[1]
Travels
She travelled to see total solar eclipses from Algiers on May 28, 1900, Majorca on August 30, 1905 and Quebec on August 31, 1932.[1] She spent a year in Shetland to study the Aurora Borealis.[1] She travelled to New Zealand and visited the hot springs at Rotorua.[1]
Family
She was born at the Rectory,[3] Bradfield, Berkshire on 23 January 1865,[4] the daughter of Thomas Stevens (1809-1888), Rector of Bradfield and founder of Bradfield College and Susanna Stevens née Marriott (c1824-1866),[5] daughter of Rev Robert Marriott, Rector of Cotesbach, Leicestershire.[6] Catherine Stevens died on 16 June 1959.[1]
Her older sister, Mary Ann Stevens, married John Oldrid Scott, son of the architect George Gilbert Scott.[7]
Publications
- Stevens, Catherine (July 1891). "Growth and Decay of Sunspots in 1891". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 6 (9): 442–444.
- Stevens, Catherine (July 1896). "A Curious Rainbow" (PDF). Nature. 54: 271.
- Stevens, Catherine (June 1904). "Mock Suns". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 14 (8): 318–319.
- Stevens, Catherine (June 1905). "Note on Halos and Rainbows". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 15 (3): 137–138.
- Stevens, Catherine (October 1905). "The Problem of "Shadow Bands"" (PDF). Nature. 72 (1878): 631.
- Stevens, Catherine (November 1907). "The Sun as a twinkling star". The Observatory. 30 (389): 407–408.
- Stevens, Catherine (June 1908). "Reports of the Observing Sections: Section for the Observation of Meteors". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 18 (9): 358–360.
- Stevens, Catherine (January 1910). "The Physical Relation of Comets and Meteors". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 20 (4): 197–199.
- Stevens, Catherine (December 1922). "Stellar Scintillation". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 33 (3): 108–109.
- Stevens, Catherine (March 1924). "Wind Waves and Shadow Bands". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 34 (5): 193–194.
- Stevens, Catherine (May 1927). "Shadow Bands". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 37 (7): 277–278.
- Stevens, Catherine (November 1932). "The Total Eclipse of the Sun of 1932 August 31". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 43 (1): 24–25.
Obituary
- "Obituary". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 70 (2): 103–104. January 1960.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Obituary, JBAA". astrophysics data system. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ Larsen, Kristine, "Shooting Stars: The Women Directors of the Meteor Section of the British Astronomical Association", Antiquarian Astronomer, 2006, Issue 3, pp 76-77
- ^ a b c 1911 Census of England and Wales
- ^ 1939 England and Wales Register
- ^ Deaths, Reading Mercury, 14 July 1866.
- ^ Marriages, Leicestershire Mercury, 25 March 1843
- ^ Reading Mercury, 2 May 1868
External links
- A drawing of the corona at the total solar eclipse of 30 August 1905, made by Catherine Stevens in Richard McKim, A different sort of society, Astronomy & Geophysics, Volume 57, Issue 4, August 2016, Pages 4.14–4.17,
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