In 1919, there was an extra ticket to a conference given by a astronomer who returned from a new journey from a new journey from the west coast of Africa, where a student from the University of Cambridge observed the stars and the solar eclipse.
At that time, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, a 19-year-old and undergraduate student, received extra tickets. He changed his lesson life and He inspired him to be an astronomer.
“For three nights, I don’t think I sleep,” he wrote later.
In contrast, Payne-Gaposchkin changed astronomy when he suggested what the stars were done. Although scientists then tried to accept their ideas and even get credit for them, Payne-Gaposchkin faced discrimination and refusal during his distinguished career.
What did Cecilia Payne discover?
In the mid -1800s, astronomers thought The same elements It created life in the world, created stars, comet stars and other planets. The developments in the telescopes allowed scientists to see the sky in a new way, but many scientists continued with the same idea.
In 1924, Payne-Gaposchkin was a doctoral student in the field of physics at Harvard University. He graduated from Cambridge University in the UK, but the school did not give women graduate degrees and had to come to the US for advanced education.
Using the telescope in the Harvard Observatory, Payne-Gaposchkin has seen the universe in a new way.
“He calculated that the stars were often made of hydrogen and one million times more hydrogen than the scientific community assumes, Don says Donovan Moore What to do from the stars: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s life.
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Cecilia Payne and leaving the door open
In that case, atomic fusion It wasn’t yet, and scientists thought that the sun had a similar makeup with the Earth. Payne-Gaposchkin performed a spectral analysis that found that the stars were almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.
Even Payne-Gaposchkin was initially surprised by the results. However, he trusted his mathematics and presented his findings in his doctoral thesis. Although it is true, the leading scientists in the astrophysics were not ready to accept a new idea, especially aside from a woman, an idea from a graduate student.
“When he shows his findings [Henry] Norris Russell, the director of Princeton Observatory, the Dean of American astronomers, said he was wrong, Moore says Moore. But he believed in Cecilia findings and was smart. He rewrote his thesis to indicate that hydrogen was almost as ahead of it. “
. almost Undoubtedly, Moore says that Payne-Gaposchkin is a way of leaving the door open to the door that identifies one day.
A star career
Payne-Gaposchkin is really correct and scientists were found Now accept the stars (Including the sun) consists of 73 percent hydrogen and 25 percent of helium.
Since the scientific community was adjusted to the idea that the stars and the sun were not the same as the Earth, Payne-Gaposchkin’s detectors advanced to demand credit for them.
“Years later, he proved to be right on Facles – by the man who told him he was wrong: Norris Russell. He received credit, Mo said Moore.
History then corrects itself and Payne-Gaposchkin is known as a scientist who really describes what the stars are done. However, Payne-Gaposchkin would not be as prominent as other scientists who made critical discoveries.
Star detection
Payne-Gaposchkin can graduate with a doctor after correcting the thesis of the hydrogen, while protecting the hydrogen “almost certainly”. In 1925. Although he received “close universal skepticism için for his ideas, Moore says he believes in himself and does not focus on criticism. In addition, although the area was almost completely male and women, it was determined to have an astronomy career.
“Finally it worked, Mo says Moore. “He was finally recognized for his discovery, married, brought a family, and was chosen as the first woman to be promoted during his term of office. He later became the Head of the Harvard Astronomy Department.”
Scientists would later remember how to open the doors for their achievements for their achievements, and how the determination of being a part of the scientific community would open the doors for other women who wanted to do the same one day. Vera rubin -He discovered that the dark matter was dominant in the universe and initially withdrawn.
Finally, Payne-Gaposchkin won. Three years before his death in 1979, He took it Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Astronomy Association. Ironically, the award was elected in honor of Henry Norris Russell, one of the early detectors and a scientist who tried to demand credit for his work.
Moore, Moore said, “It was extremely difficult to take a woman seriously in the 1920s. Unfortunately, she found himself in this position. It is also unfortunate that it doesn’t change too much, Mo said Moore.
Read more: Vera C. How did Rubin revolutionized the dark matter
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Emilie wrote for some of the country’s largest newspapers, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. He has a degree of journalism at the University of Missouri and a degree of MA from Dapaul University. It also has a doctoral degree. Media framing, message making and stamping communication from Illinois-Chicago University. Emilie wrote three non -fictional books. Third, a light in the dark: survival more than TED Bundy was released on October 3, 2023 from Chicago Review Press and written with Survivor Kathy Kleiner Rubin.
