The first American woman astronomer of note, she achieved world fame with her discovery of a comet in 1847 (now designated C/1847 T1). She was elected the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848. From 1849 to 1868 she was employed by the US Government Almanac Office to compute ephemerides for Venus. From 1865 until her death she worked at Vassar College at Poughkeepsie, NY, as both professor of astronomy and director of the college observatory.