The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory

The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017

Named one of the best books of the year by NPR,Â TheÂ Economist,Â Smithsonian, Nature,Â and NPR'sÂ Science Friday

Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

"A joy to read.â€ â€”The Wall Street Journal

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or â€œhuman computers,â€ to interpret the observations their male counterpartsÂ made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's collegesâ€”Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates.

The â€œglass universeâ€ of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decadesâ€”through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photographyâ€”enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne,Â who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvardâ€”and Harvardâ€™s first female department chair.

Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass UniverseÂ is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.
Country USA
Manufacturer Penguin Books
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-12-06
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Penguin Books
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-12-06
Format	Kindle eBook

The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars

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