author
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
1900–1979
A pioneering astronomer who changed our understanding of the stars, she showed that the universe is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Her work helped lay the groundwork for modern astrophysics and opened doors for women in astronomy.
2 Audiobooks
On the distribution of intensity in stellar absorption lines
by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Harlow Shapley
About the author
Born in England in 1900, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin became one of the most important astronomers of the twentieth century. She moved to the United States to study at Harvard, where her 1925 doctoral thesis argued that stars are composed chiefly of hydrogen and helium — a conclusion that transformed astronomy.
Her research did not stop there. Over the course of her career, she studied stellar atmospheres and variable stars, producing a large body of work that helped scientists better understand how stars are classified and how they change over time.
Payne-Gaposchkin also broke barriers in academic life. She became the first woman to earn a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe College for work done at Harvard, and later the first woman to become a full professor in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She died in 1979, but her discoveries remain central to how we understand the cosmos.