Background
Sarah Lippencott was born in 1920 and attended college at the University of Pennsylvania College for Women in the 1940s where she played on the women"s basketball team
Sarah Lippencott was born in 1920 and attended college at the University of Pennsylvania College for Women in the 1940s where she played on the women"s basketball team
Student, Swarthmore College, 1939. Master of Arts, Swarthmore College, 1950. Bachelor, University Pennsylvania, 1942.
Doctor of Science (honorary), Villanova University, 1973.
She is Professor Emerita of Astronomy at Swarthmore College and Director Emerita of the college"s Sproul Observatory. She is a pioneer in the use of astrometry to determine the character of binary stars and search for extrasolar planets. She wrote his obituary when he died in 1995.
She became observatory director after Peter van de Kamp retired in 1972.
She was the third wife of the late Dave Garroway, the founding host of National Broadcasting Company"s Today show. Garroway had an active interest in astronomy and they met on a tour of observatories in the Soviet Union that she was hosting.
After Garroway"s death by suicide at their home in 1982 she helped establish the Dave Garroway Laboratory for the Study of Depression at the University of Pennsylvania. She conducted numerous astrometric studies of nearby stars with van de Kamp in the search for extrasolar planets.
She reported the discovery of several objects of sub-stellar mass and proposed a 0.01 solar-mass planetary companion to the star Lalande 21185 in 1951.
The same proposal of planetary objects was made for a number of other stars as well. Claims for the smaller planetary objects were never confirmed and gradually have become discredited. However, she was quite successful in using the same techniques for characterizing many binary star systems
Her 1951 calculations of the orbit of the difficult astronomical binary star system Ross 614 were used to successfully find and image the system"s secondary star.
These calculations were used by Walter Baade to find and optically resolve this binary system for the first time using the then new 5 m (200 in) Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California. She is listed as Professor Emerita of Astronomy and Director Emerita of the Sproul Observatory in the 2010 Swarthmore college catalog.
She last published astronomy research papers in 1983. In 2009 she attended the dedication ceremony for the new Peter van de Kamp observatory at Swarthmore College.
Member Savoy Opera Company, Philadelphia, since 1947. Board managers Societe de Bienfaisance de Philadelphie, 1966-1969. Member American Society Professional Graphologists (treasurer 1988-1993), Rittenhouse Astronomical Society (secretary 1946-1948), American Astronomical Society (lecturer 1961-1984), International Astronomical Union (vice president commission 26, 1970-1973, president 1973-1975), Distinguished Daughters Pennsylvania (secretary 1988-1999), Sigma Xi (president chapter 1959-1960).
Married Dave Garroway (deceased). Married Christian Zimmerman (deceased).
