Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Welcomes Richard Ward as Featured Guest for November Science Speaker Series

November 11, 2023

NANTUCKET, MA — The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces that it will host Richard Ward as a featured presenter for its Science Speaker Series. His presentation “Don’t Click That Link!” will take place on Wednesday, November 29 at 7pm EST. It will be presented via Zoom. This event is free to all.


The Internet has brought amazing services to your living room and phone, from streaming music and movies, to online commerce and banking. At the same time, this brave new world has created an environment rich with bad actors, scams, attacks, breaches, data-spills, and more. There are a lot of threats out there, but being aware of which ones are real, which ones are myth, which ones are likely, and which are rare will help you navigate the Net more safely.


In this presentation, Richard Ward will discuss some of the common threats and work our way up to some very sophisticated attacks that have become part of the threat landscape. Richard Ward, B.S, Technical Fellow, leads the Enterprise and Security team for the Microsoft Windows and Devices Group. There, he oversees the engineering teams responsible for the security of the Windows platform, as well as the connection to the commercial customers and their requirements. Previously, he ran the Storage and Networking team for Windows; as well as the Windows Phone team, running the Developer Platform team; and the Windows Mobile Labs team, focused on incubation and prototyping of new technologies in the mobile space. Ward joined the Windows Mobile team after a long stay in Windows, where he headed the Core Architecture team. In that role, he focused on broad design issues such as state separation and management for both Windows components as well as applications. Ward also ran the security development team for Windows NT 3.5 and NT 4.0 and the core security group for Windows 2000. During this time, Ward wrote the first SSL and Kerberos implementations for Microsoft, and oversaw the evolution of the original NTLM authentication protocol. Ward joined Microsoft in 1989 as a security developer for the LAN Manager product line. Join Richard Ward for this Science Speaker Series Talk on Zoom. Pre-registration is required.


To register for this event, please follow the link below:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_s0DY91xDQIquof-Cur7JfQ#/registration


This series is generously sponsored by our lead sponsor, Bank of America


The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.


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For Immediate Release

November 11, 2023

Contact: Molly Mosscrop, Marketing Director

mmosscrop@mariamitchell.org

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Miss Herschel

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 10, 2025
A re-blog from years past. The item you see here is a small piece of what once was. Upon her visit to Europe as a young woman’s chaperone in 1857 –1858, Maria Mitchell visited many of the major observatories of Europe and met many of the movers and shakers in the scientific, art, and literary worlds of the continent. While Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) and her brother, Sir William (1738 – 1822), were long dead, Maria was able to meet Caroline’s nephew (William’s son), Sir John Herschel (1792 – 1871). All three were astronomers, though Caroline found herself having to give credit – or have her brother accept credit – for much of her work because she was a woman. She has often been credited with the being the first woman to discover a comet. She was likely not – and the other woman who was the first lost credit through history as she had to “give” her comet discovery to her husband. See a pattern? Caroline was just one of many women in a long line of, “She couldn’t possibly do that – she is a woman!” As Maria once said, “But a woman, what more could you ask to be?” But back to this small item. It was a page from one of Caroline Herschel’s notebook’s, torn from its home by John Herschel to serve a s a memento for Maria of her visit to the family’s home. Maria was a bit shocked but . . . she took it! Over the years, the paper tore and ripped and just crumbled away until Maria finally decided that to save it, she needed to past it into one of her own journals. And thus, we have what we have. I assume Caroline’s notations refer to her brother William – “Wol” and Woll.” It could be an “I” but it really looks like an “O.” She is considered the world’s first professional woman astronomer – she would be compensated for her work after some time – and she warrants a greater look at – too much for a blog. So I encourage you to go take a look at her. Maria would want you to! JNLF

From The Rear

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 3, 2025
I am not so sure our founders would love that title but the image is of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO) “from the rear.” I love this image as it is really the only one we have – unless you count the one that is taken from farther away and from further into the backyard of the Mitchell House. That one allows you to see the natural slope of the Mitchell House back lawn which would be altered when they added the Curator’s Cottage. Both of the images were taken before the Curator’s Cottage was added at the back of the Mitchell House in the early 1930s – and this one you see here was taken before 1922 when they added the Astronomical Study onto the MMO. It also shows the original dome – which was copper – before it was replaced in 1951 – which is the current dome. The copper did not hold up to our climate here – salt spray, damp, fog. But the new one, shipped over from England, has held up well. The current dome was donated by Margaret Underwood Davis (MMA board president at the time), in memory of her son, Cushing Davis who was an amateur astronomer. Margaret Davis served as president from 1930-1946 and again from 1949-1953. The image tells you some other things too. For instance, the grape arbor behind the Mitchell House is supposed to be Peleg Mitchell’s (Maria’s uncle) grape vine – I have blogged about it several times before – and you can see it in this image. You can also see how the Milk Room connects to the 1850s kitchen. The 1850s kitchen was added by Peleg Mitchell Jr and it’s the first little wart you see with the white pipe attached. The next wart is the Milk Room – also added by Peleg – it’s the one with the shutters on the window. Both still exist it’s just the Curator’s Cottage was attached in the 1930s. You will see another chimney too. It appears alongside the white pipe. That is likely the original chimney to what is now the Astronomer’s Cottage at the MMA. We acquired the Cottage in the 1920s but I believe all of the additions, and the removal of the chimney, were done before we were given it.  Fun! JNLF

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