Born: 1941 (Chester, England)
Died: 1981 (Yale Infirmary, New Haven, Connecticut)
Biography:
Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley (27 January 1941 – 23 March 1981) was a British-born New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist, and the first female professor of astronomy at Yale University. Her research made fundamental contributions to the astronomical understanding of how galaxies evolve, grow, and die.
Beatrice Hill Tinsley was born in 1941 in Chester, England, as the middle of three daughters of Jean and Edward Hill. Following World War II, the family emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Christchurch before moving to New Plymouth, where Edward Hill became the mayor. While studying in Christchurch, Beatrice Hill Tinsley married physicist and university classmate Brian Tinsley, which unfortunately prevented her from working at the university while he was employed there.
In 1963, Beatrice and Brian Tinsley moved to the United States, where Brian was hired by the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies. However, Beatrice found the situation in Dallas, Texas stultifying and clashed with the customs, once refusing to host a faculty tea. She enrolled at UT-Austin in 1964, where she was the only woman in the astronomy program and where she would later publish groundbreaking research.
Despite receiving recognition for her work, Tinsley struggled to secure a permanent academic position. The years of attempting to balance home, family, and two commuting careers took its toll, and in 1974, she made the difficult decision to leave her husband and two adopted children to take a position as assistant professor at Yale University. On 1 July 1978, Tinsley became the first woman to hold the position of professor of astronomy at Yale.
Tragically, Tinsley’s promising career was cut short when she passed away from melanoma in the Yale Infirmary in 1981. Her ashes rest in the campus cemetery, a testament to her contributions to the field of astronomy.
Throughout her professional life, Beatrice Tinsley completed pioneering theoretical studies on the aging of star populations and their impact on the observable qualities of galaxies. She also collaborated on research into models investigating whether the universe is closed or open, bringing forth groundbreaking insights. Her galaxy models led to the first approximation of what protogalaxies should look like.
In recognition of her work on galaxy evolution, Tinsley received the American Astronomical Society’s Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy in 1974. This prestigious award acknowledges outstanding research and the promise of future research by a postdoctoral woman researcher. Tinsley’s impact on the field of astronomy was further solidified in 1978 when she became the first female professor of astronomy at Yale University.
Awards:
– 1974: Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (American Astronomical Society)