The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars

[Putaendo Patrick]

One of the more interesting books on the history of astronomy published during 2016 was Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe which examines the role of women at the Harvard Observatory in the past. Women were not allowed to graduate from most universities, but they could provide cheap labour as "computers" doing basic maths and inputting data manually into ledgers before the age of the computer we now all know.

Anyone who thinks this book may be for them will enjoy Joanne Barker's sympathetic review published in a new on-line journal Nature Astronomy  http://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-016-0019

Sobel has already published several books on the history of astronomy including titles about Copernicus, Galileo and the quest for accurate chronometers to calculate longitude. Good stuff!

 

 

[westmarch]

Looks good and sadly the position of women is a recurring theme in science. I recommend, 

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
Brenda Maddox
304pp, HarperCollins.

A scientist who was overlooked and cruelly stereotyped in James Watson's book, The Double Helix (1968) about the discovery of DNA. There is a good review here.  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jun/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview15

[michael8554]

Beatrice Tinsley.

For years galaxy brightness was on of the "standard candles" used for distance measurement.

Simply put, the brightness of a certain type and size of galaxy, say, 100 Million LY away, could be used to measure the distance of a similar galaxy perhaps 5 Billion LY away.

Between 1966 and 1972 she submitted papers pointing out that over that period of time a galaxy will have evolved considerably and would not be the same brightness.

Despite being ridiculed by Sandage etc she persisted and was eventually vindicated.

[jambouk]

I've now got a copy of this for the Society for the History of Astronomy Library. A flick through it shows some interesting names and stories.

James

 

[jambouk]

I've just posted a link to audio file of the BBC Radio 4 interview with Dava Sobel last week onto the SHA's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Society-for-the-History-of-Astronomy-177159759001688/