Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin became acclaimed within her lifetime as the greatest woman astronomer of all time. This is the second edition of her popular accounts of her professional life, work and scientific achievements. It is augmented with a new foreword, by one of today's leading women astronomers, Vera Rubin, of the Carnegie Institute, Washington. Throughout her prestigious career, Payne achieved many accolades, not least becoming Harvard's first woman professor, as well as the first woman departmental chairman. Payne's vocation for astronomy was inspired by her time spent at Newnham College, Cambridge, with such distinguished lecturers as Rutherford, Bohr and Eddington. Her overwhelming love for astronomy was her personal guiding light, and her attitude and approach holds lessons for all. This book will interest not only astronomers, but also those studying the work of women in science and other feminist studies.