Margaret M. Jacoby ’52, ’61 MAT

Margaret M. Jacoby ’52, ’61 MAT, of Cumberland, R.I.; Apr. 21. She was an astronomer and founder of the Community College of Rhode Island’s physics department, where she taught for 31 years. At a young age she was fascinated by what was up in the sky. “For a woman to major in astronomy was not very practical,” she says, “because women were not allowed to use the facilities at most major laboratories.” Her determination secured funding for the construction of the observatory completed in 1978 on CCRI’s Knight Campus. Her dedication to science and teaching was acknowledged on November 15, 1995, when the observatory was rechristened the Margaret M. Jacoby Observatory. In a 2017 CCRI interview, she stated that the observatory was always called “Professor Jacoby’s Baby” because she obtained the money for it, selected the equipment for it, designed the interior, and watched it grow. She traveled the world to view eclipses, comets, and other events. Subsequently, one of the high points of her career was a trip on the QE2, where she was a guest lecturer and astronomer for the voyage. Her obituary read: “She is now at rest amongst the stars, comets, and planets she so loved.”