InfoGuides: Deaf People in Astronomy and Rocket Science: Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Last Updated: Jan 11, 2024 4:59 PM

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

The picture on the left is in the Public Domain. Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921). The asteroid 5383 Leavitt and the crater Leavitt on the Moon are named after her. Leavitt attended Oberlin and Radcliffe where she experienced hearing loss. At Radcliffe, she took an astronomy class and pursued more classes upon graduation. She worked at the Harvard College Observatory, one of "Pickering's computer women" to help map the stars using photographic plates.

She was promoted to the photometry department and used photographic techniques to determine star magnitudes. The staff began with the "North Star Sequence" as a standard from which 46 stars were selected to study. They applied this scale to measure thousands of stars where Leavitt discovered 2,400 variable stars, asteroids, and other heavenly objects.

In 1908, Leavitt discovered the period-luminosity law that enabled astronomers to estimate the distance from the earth to stars based on their brightness. This discovery allowed astronomers to estimate greater distances up to ten million light-years away, much greater than one hundred light-years. Hubble used the law to estimate the distance of the Andromeda galaxy in light-years.

She contributed to studies of variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds., including finding 25 Cepheids in the dwarf galaxy, the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. Of the 2400 variable stars she discovered, 1,777 of them are in the Magellanic Clouds. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics, but she had already passed away 4 years earlier.

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Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences
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Look Up! Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born on July 4, 1868, and she changed the course of astronomy when she was just twenty-five years old. Henrietta spent years measuring star positions and sizes from photographs taken by the telescope at the Harvard College Observatory, where she worked. After Henrietta observed that certain stars had a fixed pattern to their changes, her discovery made it possible for astronomers to measure greater and greater distances--leading to our present understanding of the vast size of the universe. An astronomer of her time called Henrietta Leavitt "one of the most important women ever to touch astronomy," and another close associate said she had the "best mind at the Harvard Observatory." Henrietta Leaveitt's story will inspire young women and aspiring scientists of all kinds and includes additional information about the solar system and astronomy.
Silent Sky When Henrietta Leavitt (Deaf astronomer) begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn't allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a group of women "computers," charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who calculates projects in "girl hours" and has no time for the women's probing theories. As Henrietta, in her free time, attempts to measure the light and distance of stars, she must also take measure of her life on Earth, trying to balance her dedication to science with family obligations and the possibility of love. The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman's place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries when women's ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications; Henrietta Leavitt and her female peers believe in both, and their dedication changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth. Annie Jump Cannon (Deaf astronomer) is also featured in the play.
Call Number: Drama

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The Glass Universe: how the ladies of the Harvard Observatory took the measure of the stars From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy A New York Times Book Review Notable Book Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR's Science Friday Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A joy to read." --The Wall Street Journal In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or "human computers," to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges--Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. The "glass universe" of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades--through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography--enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard--and Harvard's first female department chair. Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.
Miss Leavitt's Stars How big is the universe? In the early twentieth century, scientists took sides. One held that the entire universe was contained in the Milky Way galaxy. Their champion was the strong-willed astronomer Harlow Shapley. Another camp believed that the universe was so vast that the Milky Way was just one galaxy among billions--the view that would prevail, proven by the equally headstrong Edwin Hubble.Almost forgotten is the Harvard Observatory "computer"--a human number cruncher hired to calculate the positions and luminosities of stars in astronomical photographs--who found the key to the mystery. Radcliffe-educated Henrietta Swan Leavitt, fighting ill health and progressive deafness, stumbled upon a new law that allowed astronomers to use variable stars--those whose brightness rhythmically changes--as a cosmic yardstick. Miss Leavitt's Stars is both a masterly account of how we measure the universe and the moving story of a neglected genius
Silence of the Spheres
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