Mary (Maire) Bruck:DR MARY (Máire) Brück, who has died aged 83, was an astronomer who wrote extensively on the role of women in science.
One of her best-known books is Agnes Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics. Published in 2002 it is a study of the 19th-century astronomer who was born in Skibbereen. Her most recent book, Stars and Satellites: women in early astronomy in Britain and Ireland, is forthcoming.
Prof Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory, said he had been privileged to know her both as a student and a colleague.
“She was a great achiever and a great role model for women in science; and in her latter years as keen as any I know to reach out and share her knowledge with young people, professional colleagues, amateur astronomers, and the general public alike.”
Science writer Mary Mulvihill described her as erudite, approachable and always generous with her time and knowledge; a delight to work with, who worked right up to the end despite her illness.
“An afternoon spent in her company was always an enjoyable education, in the elegant sitting room of her home outside Edinburgh, where the conversation would range from Scottish astronomy and the history of women scientists to classical music and the Irish language,” Mulvihill said.
Born in Ballivor, Co Meath, in 1925, she was the eldest of the eight children of Thomas and Margaret Conway, both of whom were schoolteachers.
She attended the St Louis Convent in Monaghan and sat her Leaving Certificate examination at the age of 16.
A physics graduate of University College Dublin, she obtained her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in the field of solar spectroscopy, after which she was appointed as an astronomer at Dunsink Observatory.
There her main research interests focused on photographic measurements of the colours and brightness of stars and in the newly developing field of photometry.
At Dunsink she met the German astronomer Dr Hermann A Brück, who had been invited by Éamon de Valera to direct the observatory, which was part of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. She married him in 1952.
In 1957 she encouraged her husband to apply for the post of Astronomer Royal for Scotland.
He was successful and held the post until his retirement in 1975. The Brücks were the last family of astronomers to live in the official residence at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill.
She became a part-time lecturer in the University of Edinburgh in 1962 and taught generations of astronomers until her retirement in 1984. She was a university fellow from 1984 until 1987.
She once explained that her interest in the stars stemmed from her childhood fascination with the “man in the moon”.
In later years, she broadcast a series of children’s programmes for RTÉ radio, The Sun, Moon and Stars, and produced, in 1965, the Ladybird book The Night Sky.
In later years she worked with her husband on historical research, in particular The Peripatetic Astronomer: the life of Charles Piazzi Smyth (1988).
Following on from this she and her husband wrote a history of Edinburgh astronomy.
The author of numerous scientific papers, she also contributed to Stars, Shells and Bluebells: Women Scientists and Pioneers (1997).
She contributed a chapter to Lab Coats and Lace: Lives and Legacies of Inspiring Irish Women Scientists and Pioneers, which is due to be launched on International Women’s Day.
An honorary member of the Irish Astronomical Society, she was the 2001 recipient of the Lorimer Medal of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh.
She lectured several times in Ireland since the turn of the millennium, participating in the Lindsay Centennial Conference in Armagh and in the Galway Astronomy Festival.
Predeceased by her husband in 2000, she is survived by their daughters Anne and Catherine and son Andrew.
Dr Mary (Máire) Brück: born May 25th, 1925; died December 11th, 2008.