Sitterly, Charlotte Moore (1898–1990)

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Sitterly, Charlotte Moore (1898–1990)

American astronomer and spectroscopist. Name variations: Charlotte Emma Moore Sitterly, Charlotte Emma Moore. Born Charlotte Emma Moore, Sept 24, 1898, in Enciltoun, Pennsylvania; died Mar 3, 1990, in Washington, DC; Swarthmore College, BA, 1920; University of California, Berkeley, PhD, 1931; m. Bancroft W. Sitterly (physics professor, astronomer and mathematician).

Became assistant to Henry Norris Russell at Princeton University and co-authored papers on binary stars (1920–25); with Charles E. St. John and Harold D. Babcock, worked at Mt. Wilson Observatory (late 1920s), studying solar spectrum and publishing revision of Henry Rowland's table of wavelengths of solar spectrum (1928); back at Princeton (1931–45), produced 1st comprehensive spectroscopic compilation, A Multiplet Table of Astrophysical Interest (1933); studied and documented spectra at National Bureau of Standards (NBS) as member of Atomic Spectroscopy Section (1945–68); published Ultraviolet Multiplet Tables (1946) and Atomic Energy Levels (1949–58); documented thousands of wavelengths, creating tables of data which have been invaluable in development of new laser technology.

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