Yearbook of Astronomy, 2018 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Astronomical observation: observatories, equipment & methods
ISBN: 9781526717436
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2017-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921)

This year also sees, on 4 July, the 150th anniversary of the birth of another pioneering astronomer – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who played a vital part in establishing the cosmic distance scale.

From 1893, Leavitt worked at Harvard College Observatory as a ‘computer’ – which in those days meant a person who performed laborious calculations by hand, to process the data collected by the observers. The Observatory’s Director, Edward Pickering, employed exclusively women for this purpose, and they became known as ‘Pickering’s Harem’. Part of Leavitt’s task was to measure and catalogue star brightnesses on photographic plates, and she was assigned to study variable stars.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt. (Wikipedia)

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