Annie Jump Cannon
Last edited Thu Dec 13, 2012, 11:45 AM - Edit history (1)
(Sorry I've missed her birthday by a day) 
(December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme, which was the first serious attempt to organize and classify stars based on their temperatures.
In 1925 she received the first honorary doctorate that Oxford University ever awarded to a woman. She was also the first woman to become an officer in the American Astronomical Society. In 1933 she established that organization's Annie J. Cannon Award, which is given to a North American female astronomer (within five years of receiving a doctorate) for her distinguished contribution to astronomy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Jump_Cannon
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but in a non-quantitative perspective. I had a descriptive astronomy course in college which was not vigorously empirical and very informative. Were it not for the grade aspect (maybe as an audit) it would have been tremendous.
Ssshh! I bought my daughter a telescope for Christmas. 
I'll be sending some links on Ms Cannon and some others as well. 
