Swope taught astronomy at Barnard College and Connecticut College for Women and did research using old plates from Harvard. In 1952, Walter Baade of the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Observatories asked her, via Martin Schwarzschild as an intermediary, to come work with him on variable stars detected in other galaxies by the new 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory. Although she was hired as Baade's research assistant, in the "nebular-studies" group, she worked independently even to the point of writing scientific publications with his name on them after his death. She stayed at the Carnegie Institution for the rest of her career; she officially retired in 1968. In 1964, a paper by Baade & Swope reported the results of light curves for 275 Cepheids derived by Swope from photographic plates of the Andromeda Galaxy taken at the relatively new Hale 200-inch Telescope at Palomar Mountain. They reported a new distance to M31, given as a distance modulus of 24.25. They followed up this work in 1963 with new results of 20 Cepheids in a region of Andromeda less affected by extinction and estimated a new distance modulus of 24.20 mag. Legacy In 1967, Swope made a donation of securities valued at $650,000 to the Carnegie Institution of Washington to develop "optical astronomical observatory facilities in the Southern Hemisphere." This gift was used for development of the site, including roads, water, and power systems, and for building a 40-inch telescope at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. This telescope was named the Swope Telescope in her honor; it started operation in 1971 and is still used today. Swope also left most of her estate to Carnegie to support further Las Campanas and astronomical research at the institution more generally. Henrietta Hill Swope died at the age of 78 in Pasadena in California. Awards and honors Annie J. Cannon Award in 1968 Asteroid 2168 Swope is named in her honor. Barnard Distinguished Alumnae Award, 1975 The Swope Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile is named in her honor. Honorary PhD, 1975, University of Basel, Switzerland Barnard College Medal of Distinction, 1980 References External links Henrietta Hill Swope Papers.Schlesinger Library , Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Oral history interview transcript with Henrietta Hill Swope on 3 August 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives 1902 births 1980 deaths American women astronomers Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in