Giving women astronomers their due

Whose names we forget when we look at the stars?

“Harvard computers” at Harvard College Observatory. Image by space.com.

In 1923 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin completed her studies of astronomy at the University of Cambridge. But she could not get a degree. For one simple reason: she was a woman. In the 1920s England, such a thing as a woman astronomer just didn’t exist.

Think about it: this was only a hundred years ago. Sure, we’ve come a long way…