Legendary Stargazer

When astronomer Nancy Grace Roman ’46, H’76 died Dec. 25, her pioneering spirit and scientific legacy were memorialized across the globe. One of the first female executives at NASA, Roman was instrumental in the development of the Hubble Space Telescope.

“We were always questioning,” she said. Lego even created a Women of NASA collection featuring Roman.

In The Meaning of Swarthmore, Roman said the greatest gift she received from Swarthmore was the ability and eagerness to learn new things. “The College gave me a good background in the fundamentals of my field that permitted me to understand problems, techniques, and instruments well outside my research experience,” she said. “I am the only person I know who did not have any English courses in college, but writing seminar papers was a great learning experience. I think my biggest asset in my NASA job was the ability to speak and write easily and well.”