Henrietta Leavitt, Cosmology Pioneer, Receives Belated Obituary (nytimes.com) 14
Longtime Slashdot reader necro81 writes: The New York Times has an occasional series called "Overlooked," whereby notable people whose deaths were overlooked at the time receive the obituary they deserve. Their latest installment eulogizes Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who passed away in 1921 at age 53. From the report: "In the early 20th century, when Henrietta Leavitt began studying photographs of distant stars at the Harvard College Observatory, astronomers had no idea how big the universe was... Leavitt, working as a poorly paid member of a team of mostly women [computers] who cataloged data for the scientists at the observatory, found a way to peer out into the great unknown and measure it."
Leavitt discovered the period-luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars. The relationship, now known as Leavitt's Law, is a crucial rung in the cosmic distance ladder, the methods for measuring the distance to stars, galaxies, and across the visible universe. From the report: "[Leavitt's Law] underpinned the research of other pioneering astronomers, including Edwin Hubble and Harlow Shapley, whose work in the years after World War I demolished long-held ideas about our solar system's place in the cosmos. Leavitt's Law has been used on the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope in making new calculations about the rate of expansion of the universe and the proximity of stars billions of light years from earth. 'She cracked into something that was not only impressive scientifically but shifted an entire paradigm of thinking...'"
Leavitt discovered the period-luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars. The relationship, now known as Leavitt's Law, is a crucial rung in the cosmic distance ladder, the methods for measuring the distance to stars, galaxies, and across the visible universe. From the report: "[Leavitt's Law] underpinned the research of other pioneering astronomers, including Edwin Hubble and Harlow Shapley, whose work in the years after World War I demolished long-held ideas about our solar system's place in the cosmos. Leavitt's Law has been used on the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope in making new calculations about the rate of expansion of the universe and the proximity of stars billions of light years from earth. 'She cracked into something that was not only impressive scientifically but shifted an entire paradigm of thinking...'"
Late but welcome (Score:3)
Glad they're finally doing this. As the summary says, her contribution is incredibly important for our understanding of the universe.
Tangentially related, I'm looking for a book on how the discovery of other galaxies changed people's thinking (religious, social, etc. kind of like an intellectual history). Does anyone know of such a title?
Re: (Score:1)
Gotta keep up with the whole victim-hood reputation.
Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. [nytimes.com]
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Found the snowflake.
Re: (Score:2)
Not the New York Times.
8 new binary cepheids discovered. we knew just one (Score:5, Informative)
How timely: Just the other day, there was news of 8 more binary cepheids. Up till now, only one such system where both stars are cepheids were known.
Binary systems are very important because, for example, using Kepler's 3rd law of planetary motion, they reveal the precise masses of the systems. This in turn allows us to calibrate the properties of cypheids.
https://www.universetoday.com/... [universetoday.com]
Passive voice much? (Score:2)
whereby notable people whose deaths were overlooked at the time
Just like the NY Times to remark that the deaths "were overlooked" (passive voice) rather than admitting that the NY Times, by overlooking their deaths, is the guilty party here.