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The Unknown Woman Who Discovered What the Universe Is Made Of

October 7, 2018

In the world of science, there are those who rise to quick fame for their discoveries and get mentioned in every school textbook, and then there are those who are left forgotten and never receive as much public recognition. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, the woman who discovered the composition of the stars in terms of hydrogen and helium, is part of the latter group. We hear that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time and that Galileo was the first to say that the Earth revolves around the sun, but never about the remarkable contributions of Cecilia Payne to human knowledge. In 1919, Payne received a scholarship to Cambridge University where she read about physics and chemistry, yet, after she completed her studies, she was not awarded a degree because she was a woman. It was only until 1948 that Cambridge University decided to grant women their degrees. This did not stop her from pursuing a career in science. She began to search for grants to continue her education in the United States, and fortunately, she was introduced to Harlow Shapley, who was the director of the…


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