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Nancy Roman
(16 May 1925 - 26 Dec 2018)
American astronomer who was the “Mother of Hubble.” As one of the first female managers at NASA, her most famous achievement was leading the Hubble Space Telescope project.
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Science Quotes by Nancy Roman (3 quotes)
A fair number of people who go on to major in astronomy have decided on it certainly by the time they leave junior high, if not during junior high. I think it’s somewhat unusual that way. I think most children pick their field quite a bit later, but astronomy seems to catch early, and if it does, it sticks.
— Nancy Roman
From interview by Rebecca Wright, 'Oral History Transcript' (15 Sep 2000), on NASA website.
I … decided that the challenge of starting with a completely clean slate and mapping out a program that would influence astronomy for fifty years was just more than I could turn down.
— Nancy Roman
Recalling why she took the opportunity to leave research at the Naval Research Laboratory for a management job at NASA to set up a program in space astronomy (Feb 1958). From interview by Rebecca Wright, 'Oral History Transcript' (15 Sep 2000), on NASA website.
I like to tell students that the jobs I took [at NASA] after my Ph.D. were not in existence only a few years before. New opportunities can open up for you in this ever changing field.
— Nancy Roman
From interview, 'Happy 90th Birthday, Nancy', on NASA website (30 May 2017).
See also:
- 16 May - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Roman's birth.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
