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Maria Margaretha Kirch

Content: Most all of the information is relevant and adds to the conversation in an unbiased manner, the main reason I chose this article is because of how little information in total there is. One thing I noticed was how very little connection or impact on the field of her works are presented in the article.

Sources: The sources look fine and most of the people mentioned through the article have working links if they have a corresponding page

Edits: "Gottfried Kirch gave his wife further instruction in astronomy, as he did for his sister and many other students"

Draft
Early Life

Maria Winkelmann, born February 25, 1670 in Panitsch, Germany, was educated at a young age by her father a Lutheran pastor who believed in equal footing for both sexes. By the age of 13 Maria had lost both her father and mother. After her parents' deaths, she continues her general education from her brother-in-law Justinus Toellner until 1683, where she had the opportunity to study under and assist well-known astronomer Christoph Arnold, who lived nearby. Her education was continued by her uncle. As Maria had an interest in astronomy from an early age, she took the opportunity of studying with Arnold.

''Through Arnold, Maria met the famous German astronomer and mathematician Gottfried Kirch, who was 30 years her senior. The Winkelmann family was against the relationship at first, both because of the age difference and the earlier plan for Maria to marry a Lutheran pastor. Despite this the two married in 1692, later having four children, all of whom followed their parents by studying astronomy. In 1700 the couple moved to Berlin, as the elector ruler of Brandenburg Frederick III, later Frederick I of Prussia, had appointed Gottfried Kirch as the Astronomer Royal.''

Career

''After her husband's death Maria could not defend her position at the Leibniz's Berlin Academy despite being his assistant for the last ten years and could only return as an assistant to her son Christfield. Leibniz supported Kirch both in and outside the academy however it was extremely uncommon at the time for women to become members of scientific academies, despite 14% of German astronomers being women in the early eighteenth century. ''

''Despite Maria and Gottfried both having spent years working on calendars and discovering a comet each, the one item Maria did not have that almost everyone in the Academy did was a university education. ''

''Leibniz later tried to secure housing and salary for Winkelmann in 1711 and was able to secure housing for Winkelmann to stay in for an undetermined amount of time, however the Academy denied Leibniz's petition for Winkelmann's salary. Later in 1711, the academy relented upon Maria enough to give her a medal for her work in Astronomy. Despite this, Winkelmann continued to apply for over a year to become a member of the Berlin Academy, however with Leibniz leaving Berlin in 1711, the Academy became even more adamant on refusing Maria's entrance until in early 1712 when she received the final rejection.''

Career opening line: ''Gottfried Kirch gave his wife further instruction in astronomy, as he did for his sister and all his children starting from a young age. ''

''In 1717 the Berlin Academy gave Maria two options, either continue to fight for a position of her own or she could retire in the interests of her son's reputation. She chose to retire and continue her own observations at home, which the Academy requested be nearby so that her son could still dine at home without neglecting his duties at the Academy.''

References: Pandora's Breeches by Patricia Fara pgs 140-144, Schiebinger, L. (1993). Women in science: historical perspectives. In Women at work: A meeting on the status of women in astronomy (p. 11).