1846-1927

American astronomer who took the first American x-ray photographs. Whiting was a physics professor at Wellesley College. She established the first physics laboratory for female students in the United States, initiating astronomical study. Whiting was director of the college's Whiting Observatory. Whiting studied at major European laboratories to share current research with her classes. In 1895 she experimented with x-ray photography. Whiting's book Daytime and Evening Exercises in Astronomy (1912) outlined her teaching methodology. She inspired other women also to become scientists.