Paris Pişmiş

Born on 30 January 1911 in Istanbul, Turkey, Paris Pişmiş was an astronomer who was instrumental in establishing the field in Mexico. Of Armenian descent, Pişmiş grew up in Istanbul and studied mathematics at Istanbul University. She also worked as a research assistant for German astronomer Erwin Finlay-Freundlich at the Istanbul University Observatory . In 1937 she became the first woman to earn a PhD from the university’s Science Faculty. Before the outbreak of World War II, Pişmiş traveled to the US, and from 1939 to 1942, she worked as an assistant astronomer at Harvard College Observatory. At Harvard she met and married Mexican mathematician Félix Recillas and moved to Mexico. In 1948 Pişmiş joined the National Astronomical Observatory, which was associated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she would remain for the next 50 years. At UNAM, Pişmiş helped create the astronomy and astrophysics curricula and was a devoted teacher and mentor. She was also an accomplished researcher who studied stellar clusters and stellar dynamics and discovered some 20 objects in the southern hemisphere. She published more than 120 research articles in astrophysics and served as editor for several astronomical journals. Among the professional organizations of which she was a member were the International Astronomical Union, the Royal Astronomical Society, the American Astronomical Society, the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and the Mexican Physical Society. She died in 1999 at age 88. (Photo credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, John Irwin Slide Collection)

Date in History: 30 January 1911