Motherβs Day this coming Sunday, May 13, is a good time to reflect on one of the most famous astronomers in the 20th century, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, nee Cecilia Helena Payne, (1900-1979) who was born in 1900 on May 10 in Wendover, England.
Because she was a woman, despite being extraordinarily bright and well educated, she had little opportunity for a career in the United Kingdom and moved to the United States in 1923 at the recommendation of Harlow Shapley, director of the Harvard College Observatory.
In 1925, Payne became the first person to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard). Her doctoral thesis has been called the most brilliant ever written in astronomy. In it she established that hydrogen is by far the most abundant element in stars and the most abundant element in the universe, an amazing conclusion that went against conventional thinking at the time.
Cecilia Payne married the Russian astrophysicist Sergei Gaposchkin, and they had three children. She had a long distinguished career at Harvard University, including becoming the first woman to head a department at the Ivy League college.
As you enjoy the starry sky on Motherβs Day evening, think of Cecilia and the fact that most of the universe is hydrogen with some helium thrown in and with mere traces of the everyday elements we find on Earth, all of which was discerned by a brilliant graduate student.
