[Music throughout] Nancy Grace Roman [1925-2018]: It’s hard to decide how history will view my accomplishments.
People generally aren’t terribly interested
in what gets things started, and so I’m not sure
they're going to have much of an idea of my role.
Narrator: Nancy Grace Roman served as the first Chief of Astronomy in NASA’s Office of
Space Science — the first woman to hold and executive position
with the agency. She was instrumental in the early
planning of NASA’s first great space observatory — the Hubble Space Telescope —
earning her the nickname “the mother of Hubble.”
To honor her, NASA has given her name to one of its most
powerful upcoming space observatories. WFIRST,
the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope is now the
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Nancy Grace was born in 1925 and developed an interest in astronomy
at an early age. Nancy Grace: I just was fascinated.
Between 5th and 6th grade I organized my
friends into an astronomy club to study the constellations!
I certainly did not receive any encouragement.
I was told from the beginning that women could not
be scientists. Narrator: Nancy Grace persevered
and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1949 with a
doctorate in astronomy, despite continuing to encounter discrimination.
Nancy Grace: My thesis professor, there was a period in which he went
for six months without speaking to me even when I said hello to him in the hall.
He didn’t want to have anything to do with me.
Narrator: After several years of research, NASA came calling.
Nancy Grace: I started at NASA in 1959. It was
six months old. Being the first executive woman at NASA
turned out not to be terribly eventful.
I was accepted very readily as a
scientist and in my job. Narrator: During her 21 years at NASA,
Dr. Roman was involved in the development and launch of many
space-based observatories, which studied the Sun, deep space and
the Earth’s atmosphere. Her most enduring legacy at NASA
was the planning of Hubble and its science program. She did much of the early
advocacy and established the program structure, which laid the foundation for
other large NASA missions that followed, and helped convince the
astronomical community to support astronomy from space. After retiring
from NASA, Dr. Roman stayed involved in the space community, and
received numerous awards for her pioneering work.
Over her career, she inspired generations of young astronomers.
Now, with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope,
her legacy can continue to inspire generations more.
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