Tribute to a Great Woman Astronomer:Cecilia Payne Gaposhkin

[jedishrfu]

https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/08/23/cecilia-payne-harvard-astronomy/

Cecilia Payne (who went by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin most of her life) was instrumental in discovering the ubiquity of hydrogen in our universe, and the data she derived for her 1925 dissertation are likely the most significant contributions to our modern understanding of the true composition of stars. Despite this, she was, at the time, encouraged to downplay her paradigm-challenging results at the behest of men who would later verify them as accurate. That said, the viral post takes a few liberties. This article provides historical and scientific context about Payne-Gaposchkin, and then addresses each specific statement in the post.

As these stories come out, just how many aspiring young scientists were destroyed by those that would judge their work wrongly.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thumbs up Cecilia Payne, thumbs down jealous men!