What Stars Are Made Of: The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

by Donovan Moore

Hardcover, 2020

Status

Available

Publication

Harvard University Press (2020), Edition: Illustrated, 320 pages

Description

The history of science is replete with women getting little notice for their groundbreaking discoveries. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, a tireless innovator who correctly theorized the substance of stars, was one of them. It was not easy being a woman of ambition in early twentieth-century England, much less one who wished to be a scientist. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin overcame prodigious obstacles to become a woman of many firsts: the first to receive a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe College, the first promoted to full professor at Harvard, the first to head a department there. And, in what has been called “the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy,” she was the first to describe what stars are made of. Payne-Gaposchkin lived in a society that did not know what to make of a determined schoolgirl who wanted to know everything. She was derided in college and refused a degree. As a graduate student, she faced formidable skepticism. Revolutionary ideas rarely enjoy instantaneous acceptance, but the learned men of the astronomical community found hers especially hard to take seriously. Though welcomed at the Harvard College Observatory, she worked for years without recognition or status. Still, she accomplished what every scientist yearns for: discovery. She revealed the atomic composition of stars—only to be told that her conclusions were wrong by the very man who would later show her to be correct. In What Stars Are Made Of, Donovan Moore brings this remarkable woman to life through extensive archival research, family interviews, and photographs. Moore retraces Payne-Gaposchkin’s steps with visits to cramped observatories and nighttime bicycle rides through the streets of Cambridge, England. The result is a story of devotion and tenacity that speaks powerfully to our own time.… (more)

Rating

½ (6 ratings; 3.5)

User reviews

LibraryThing member stargazerdad
You might think from the title that you would get a pretty in-depth understanding about what the stars are made of, but this is a biography of the first person to indicate that the universe is not all proportioned like the earth and the sun, that it is mostly hydrogen and helium. The science is
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well introduced, but if you want the details consult perhaps Cecilia Payne's PhD Thesis online. This is a story about a young woman who never quit, did so much in a time where women were not expected to do science. The story seemed to rush at the end, but perhaps it is so that the most interesting parts were in Dr. Payne's early life. That story is worth reading.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

320 p.; 8.5 inches

ISBN

0674237374 / 9780674237377
Page: 0.7649 seconds