Astronomers, Astrophysicists, Astronauts, “M...-”
for the social studies and science classrooms, theme decor.

Antonio de Marchena
Bruce McCandless II
Jim McDivitt

Pierre Mechain
Charles-Joseph Messier
Edgar Mitchell

Antonio de Marchena
d. c. 1513

Antonio de Marchena was considered by Christopher Columbus to be his only loyal supporter in the royal court of Ferdinand and Isabella - “Your majesties know that I spent seven years in the court pestering you for this; never in the whole time was there found a pilot, nor a sailor, nor a mariner, nor a philosopher, nor an expert in any other science who did not state that my enterprise was false, so I never found support from anyone, save father Friar Antonio de Marchena, beyond that of eternal God.” The Worlds of Christopher Columbus

US Astronaut Bruce Mccandless II Conducting Space Walk During Challenger IV Space Shuttle Mission, Photographic Print

Bruce McCandless II
b. 6-8-1937; Boston, MA

Bruce McCandless, selected for the NASA program in 1966, logged more than 312 hours in space. During the first of McCandless' two Space Shuttle missions (STS-41-B, 1984) he made the first untethered, free flight using the Manned Maneuvering Unit; STS-31 launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.

James A. McDivitt
b. 6-10-1929; Chicago, IL (raised Michigan)

Jim McDivitt flew in the Gemini and Apollo programs. He commanded the Gemini 4 for the first space walk.

Pierre Mechain
b. 8-16-1744; Laon, France
d. 9-20-1804; Castellon de la Plana, Spain

Pierre Mechain was a major contributor to the study of deep sky objects.

Charles-Joseph Messier
b. 6-26-1730; Badonviller, France
d. 4-12-1817; Paris

Charles-Joseph Messier catalogued astronomical objects and numbered them M-1 through M-120.

• The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide: With Complete Maps, Charts and Tips to Guide You to Enjoying the Most Famous List of Deep-Sky Objects

Edgar Mitchell
b. 9-17-1930; Hereford, TX

Edgar Mitchell was the lunar modular pilot on the 1971 Apollo 14 mission and the sixth person to walk on the Moon.

In 1974 Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences “to encourage and conduct research on human potentials.”

Edgar Mitchell quote ~
• “Eventually we must leave Earth – at least a certain number of our progeny must as our sun approaches the end of its solar life cycle. But just as terrestrial explorers have always led the way for settlers, this will also happen extraterrestrially. Earth is our cradle, not our final destiny.” Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, The Way of the Explorer, 1996

Maria Mitchell
b. 8-1-1818; Nantucket, MA
d. 6-28-1889; Lynn, MA

Maria Mitchell, who became the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850, first gained international attention for discovering a comet (Comet 1847 VI or C/1847 T1) in the fall of 1847 and winning a prize offered by King Frederich VI of Denmark.

Mitchell later worked at the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office and in 1865 became professor of astronomy at Vassar College, the first person (male or female) appointed to the faculty; she was also named as Director of the Vassar College Observatory. When Mitchell learned that despite her tenure, reputation and experience, her salary was less than many younger male professors, she insisted on a salary increase, and got it.

FYI - Mitchell, who was a distant cousin of Benjamin Franklin, also travelled to Europe with Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family.

• Maria Mitchell in Women of Science Composite poster
• Maria Mitchell: A Life in Journals and Letters

August Ferdinand Mobius
b. 10-24-1790; Schulpforta, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
d. 9-26-1868; Leipzig

Mobius, a professor of astronomy, is best known for his discovery of the Möbius strip, “a non-orientable two-dimensional surface with only one side when embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space.”

– or–

A Möbius strip is a two-dimensional surface with only one side. To construct a Möbius strip in three dimensions take a rectangular strip of paper and mark point A on one end and point B on the other, give the strip a half twist (180º) and join the two ends together. It is now possible to start at a point A on the surface and draw a line along the length of the strip that passes through the point which is apparently on the other side of the surface from A.

• The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology
• M. C. Escher “Ants” on a Mobius Strip, poster

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