BornCheadle, Staffordshire, England, 17 May 1858
DiedCheadle, Staffordshire, England, 14 April 1944
British amateur astronomer, Mary Blagg, is best known for her work on lunar nomenclature and variable stars. The daughter of a solicitor, Charles Blagg, Mary was educated at home and at a private boarding school in London. Finding mathematics intriguing, she borrowed her brother’s schoolbooks to teach herself mathematical subjects. Even without a formal background, she became increasingly competent in mathematics and gained skills that prepared her to understand basic astronomy. However, it was not until she was middle aged that she became seriously involved with astronomy. Her interest developed after she attended lectures in Cheadle given by John Herschel ’s grandson, astronomer Joseph Alfred Hardcastle (1868–1917). These University Extension Lectures encouraged Blagg to ponder the possibility of doing original work in astronomy. Although there is no evidence that Hardcastle convinced...
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Blagg, Mary A. (1913). Collated List of Lunar Formations Named or Lettered in the Maps of Neison,Schmidt,and Mädler. Compiled and Annotated for the Committee by Mary A. Blagg under the Direction of the Late S. A. Saunder. Edinburgh: Neill and Co.
Blagg, Mary A. (ed.) (1924). “Baxendell’s Observations of β Lyrae.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 84: 629–659.
— (1925). “Observations of β Lyrae by Members of the B. A.A., 1906–1920.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 85: 484–496.
Blagg, Mary A. and Karl Müller (1935). Named Lunar Formations. London: Percy Lund, Humphries.
Kidwell, Peggy Aldrich (1984). “Women Astronomers in Britain, 1780–1930.” Isis 75: 534–546.
Ryves, P. M. (1945). “Mary Adela Blagg.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 105: 65–66.
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Ogilvie, M.B. (2014). Blagg, Mary Adela. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_168
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