STEM trailblazer BIOS NASA ASTRONOMER NANCY GRACE ROMAN HEATHER E SCHWARTZ Lerner Publications Minneapolis
Chapter 1 Nancy Grace Roman worked on many projects at NASA including the Orbiting Solar Observatory model pictured here STARGAZING STUDENT Nancy Grace Roman always knew she wanted to be an astronomer Most women of her time did not aim for scientific careers but she didn't let that stop her She studied astronomy and worked hard to prove herself She even played
a role in the development of an incredible piece of scientific equipment the Hubble Space Telescope STUDYING THE STARS Born in Nashville Tennessee in 1925 Nancy Grace moved many times throughout her childhood because of her father's job working for an oil company Her father Irwin Roman was a geophysicist a scientist that studies the physical processes that are going on in Earth He often answered Nancy Grace's questions about science But it was her mother Georgia Smith Roman who inspired her passion for the stars Her mother was not a scientist but she was interested in the world around her She took her daughter on nature walks pointing out birds and plants She showed Nancy Grace the constellations and the northern lights in the night sky When Nancy Grace was about eleven the family moved to Reno Nevada There she started her own neighborhood astronomy club The girls in the club studied constellations and read about astronomy The Roman family moved to Baltimore Maryland in 1937 and Nancy Grace went to a girls high school there By then she was already pursing her goal of becoming an astronomer
