Dorrit Hoffleit is a senior research astronomer at Yale University. She was born on March 12, 1907, in Florence, Alabama. She is author of the Bright Star Catalogue, a compendium of information on the 9,110 brightest stars in the sky; she also co-authored The General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes, containing precise distance measurements to 8,112 stars, information critical to understanding the kinematics of the Milky Way galaxy and the evolution of the solar neighborhood. In 1988, Hoffleit was awarded the George Van Biesbroeck Prize by the American Astronomical Society for a lifetime of service to astronomy.
Renowned female astronomer DorritHoffleit, who played an influential role in developing programs of the island's Maria Mitchell Association, died of complications from cancer at her New Haven, Conn. home on April 9 at the age of 100.
Hoffleit, who was Director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory for 21 years, conducted research and taught students of astronomy on Nantucket during summers and into shoulder seasons from 1957 through 1978.
Hoffleit, who died shortly after her 100th birthday on March 12, is survived by a niece.
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