Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

In my research, I happened to stumble upon an intelligent, ingenious woman: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. Although she has contributed much to the realm of astronomy, I had never heard of her before, which further made me realize that she is someone who I should highlight.

Her life begins in Wendover, England, where she was born to a quite distinguished family of historians and writers. But when she was four years old, her father died leaving her mother having to raise her and her two siblings alone. Not only is Payne a strong woman but she was raised by a strong woman! Later, her mother moved the family to London for her brother's education where she would attend St Mary's College, Paddington. Here, she was not able to study mathematics or science, so she transferred St. Paul's Girls' School in 1918. Despite being urged to go after a career in music, Payne found her interest in science, even winning a scholarship that paid for her education at Cambridge University. Because of her exposure to sciences, including botany, physics, chemistry, she was able to realize her passion for astronomy through a lecture, yet another example of the importance of educating young girls about STEM and giving them the chance to discover their passions. Even though Payne fully earned her degree, she was not granted a degree due to Cambridge's policy of not giving degrees to women. However, she took this in stride and landed a fellowship at Harvard University's newly established graduate program in Astronomy.

In 1925, at Harvard University, she wrote her doctoral thesis about the composition of stars. By using the ionization theory advanced by Indian Physicist Meghnad Saha, she was able to conjecture that the sun had the same elements as the Earth, but, the amount of hydrogen was considerably more in the sun. At first, other astronomers did not want Payne to submit her thesis because it would replace the current conclusion accepted in the scientific community. A few years later, some astronomers (who read her work) viewed her thesis as the best one written yet in astronomy. Despite crediting Payne for the discovery, a male astronomer, Henry Noris Russell often is recognized for the conclusion.

Payne continued to make observations about stars throughout the rest of her career. Because women were not allowed to become professors at that time, she had to take less-prestigious research opportunities. She did not let this dissuade her from continuing to study astronomy. Payne published many books, including The Stars of High Luminosity (1930), Variable Stars (1938), and Variable Stars and Galactic Structure (1954). Finally, in 1956, she was appointed as a full professor at Harvard University and later became the first woman to head a department at Harvard.

Despite constant rejections and disregard of her work, she persevered because she truly loved science. Cecilia Payne helped to forge a path for other women in STEM, and I hope that she receives the credit and recognition that she deserves.