What stars are made of The life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Journalist Moore illuminates the amazing life and work of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979) in his well-researched debut biography. Born in the English town of Wendover, Cecilia was "relentlessly" curious and taught herself math at a young age. Determined to be a scientist, Cecilia studied hard and earned a place at Cambridge in 1919, home to the finest minds in physics at the time. Lectures by Niels Bohr fueled Cecilia's fascination with atomic physics and the new field of quantum mechanics. Moore vividly describes the challenges that Cecilia and other women faced. Cecilia's determination and intelligence brought her to the U.S., where more professional opportunities existed for women, and to a position at Harvard College Observatory. There she met other female astronomers, including Henrietta Leavitt and Annie Jump Cannon, and used Harvard's treasure trove of astronomical photos to determine the constituent elements of stars. In addition to Cecilia's life, Moore captures a fascinating period of change in science, when physics was in flux and astrophysics was brand-new, and in the world as a whole, as new opportunities opened up for women. This is a fascinating look at a pioneer in science. (Mar.)

A fine biography of perhaps the greatest astronomer of the past century that no one has heard of.Journalist Moore's subject is Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979), the eldest of three in a middle-class British family and clearly a prodigy, fascinated by natural history and science. Her father, who encouraged her pursuits, died when she was young, leaving the family short of money and with a mother of traditional, conservative views. As the author writes, she believed that "boys were to be educated, girls refined." Despite favoring her son, she did not discourage Cecilia, who was lucky to encounter teachers who recognized her talents. Winning a scholarship, she studied physics at Cambridge until, inspired by a talk from the renowned Arthur Eddington, she changed to astronomy. She earned no degree because Cambridge did not give women degrees until 1948. Her teachers admitted that she had no future as an astronomer in Britain, so she went to Harvard to work under the charismatic Harlow Shapley, who was known for hiring women. Assigned to analyze the massive collection of photographic plates in observatory archives, Payne-Gaposchkin determined that helium was thousands of times more abundant and hydrogen millions of times more abundant in stars than on Earth. The discovery, presented in her 1925 doctoral thesis, was greeted skeptically but soon found to be correct. One scientist called it "the most brilliant thesis ever written in astronomy." Although Payne-Gaposchkin enjoyed an international reputation by the 1930s, Harvard's catalog did not list her extremely popular classes until 1945. Appointed the first woman full professor in its faculty of arts and sciences in 1956, she became chair of the department of astronomy and died with many honors. Readers will gnash their teeth as Moore recounts the discrimination she endured. This annoyed Payne-Gaposchkin, but astronomy was her obsession, so she rarely made a fuss, and male astronomers, once they realized her brilliance, mostly treated her well.An outstanding life of an impressive scientist. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.