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Xipe Totec

(43,935 posts)
2. Regarding Cecilia Payne
Sun Sep 22, 2013, 02:42 PM
Sep 2013

Shapley persuaded Payne to write a doctoral dissertation, and so in 1925 she became the first person to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard). Her thesis was "Stellar Atmospheres, A Contribution to the Observational Study of High Temperature in the Reversing Layers of Stars". Astronomer Otto Struve called it "undoubtedly the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy".

Payne was able to accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures by applying the ionization theory developed by Indian physicist Meghnad Saha. She showed that the great variation in stellar absorption lines was due to differing amounts of ionization at different temperatures, not to different amounts of elements. She correctly suggested that silicon, carbon, and other common metals seen in the Sun's spectrum were found in about the same relative amounts as on Earth, but that helium and particularly hydrogen were vastly more abundant (for hydrogen, by a factor of about one million). Her thesis thus established that hydrogen was the overwhelming constituent of the stars (see Metallicity)

When Payne's dissertation was reviewed, astronomer Henry Norris Russell dissuaded her from concluding that the composition of the Sun is different from that of the Earth, contradicting the accepted wisdom at the time. However, he changed his mind four years later after deriving the same result by different means. After Payne was proven correct, Russell was often given the credit, although he himself acknowledged her work in his paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Payne-Gaposchkin

I think it is unfair and deceitful to characterize Russell as a misogynist.

silly me, thought women accomplished nothing, until last couple years see all the kick ass women seabeyond Sep 2013 #1
Regarding Cecilia Payne Xipe Totec Sep 2013 #2
And don't forget Hypatia question everything Sep 2013 #3
I think there were a lot of reasons they killed her. AtheistCrusader Sep 2013 #32
We have NO idea what Hypatia did beside so work on the stars and Philosophy happyslug Sep 2013 #35
Half of the human race's intellect was wasted LittleBlue Sep 2013 #4
It's why I am pissed off at the MRA types who say that if there were no men, we wouldn't even have Nay Sep 2013 #28
Regarding Jocelyn Bell Burnell Xipe Totec Sep 2013 #5
Ignaz Semmelweis jtuck004 Sep 2013 #10
Absolutely agree. Xipe Totec Sep 2013 #19
It even has a name: "Matilda Effect" Democracyinkind Sep 2013 #6
The situation with Lise Meitner was a little more complicated. cab67 Sep 2013 #7
BTW element #109 was named 'Meitnerium' after her, perhaps in the end a more significant PoliticAverse Sep 2013 #27
Caroline Herschel Manifestor_of_Light Sep 2013 #8
You'd be surprised how much this continues today malaise Sep 2013 #9
And you forgot Marie! zwyziec Sep 2013 #11
Marie Curie did get a lot of recognition muriel_volestrangler Sep 2013 #14
Despite that and other qualifying factors, IDemo Sep 2013 #26
Well, Rosalind Franklin couldn't win the Nobel because she died before it was awarded. longship Sep 2013 #12
Hedy Lamarr Unknown Beatle Sep 2013 #13
My heroine Xipe Totec Sep 2013 #20
FWIW, Lise Meitner had an element named after her muriel_volestrangler Sep 2013 #15
Recommended and bookmarked shenmue Sep 2013 #16
The very first computer programmers were women. MgtPA Sep 2013 #17
Ada Lovelace efhmc Sep 2013 #18
Einstein's wife. You want to be pissed? Check that one out. roguevalley Sep 2013 #21
back in the 60s a woman, Tikvah Alper, hypothesized the malfolded proteins magical thyme Sep 2013 #22
Not quite. Igel Sep 2013 #29
hey, chill. I can't find my paper right now, but may find it tomorrow to link to sourcing magical thyme Sep 2013 #33
not to forget Lynn Margulis. nt magical thyme Sep 2013 #23
Lise Meitner was not "forgotten" jimlup Sep 2013 #24
K&R So many and for so long, disgusting and shameful. n/t Egalitarian Thug Sep 2013 #25
The women of ENIAC were also pushed into the shadows while... Triana Sep 2013 #30
K & R Scurrilous Sep 2013 #31
I had no idea. avaistheone1 Sep 2013 #34
Add Rear Admiral Grace Hopper to the list LongTomH Sep 2013 #36
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