Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin(1900 — 1979)
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
États-Unis, Royaume-Uni
7 min read
British-born American astronomer (1900–1979), she discovered that stars are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her 1925 doctoral thesis revolutionized astrophysics, even though her conclusions were initially rejected by her peers.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1900: born in Wendover, England
- 1925: defended her doctoral thesis demonstrating that stars are composed predominantly of hydrogen
- 1956: first woman appointed full professor at Harvard
- 1979: died in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Works & Achievements
Revolutionary doctoral thesis demonstrating that stars are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. Described by Otto Struve as “the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy.”
Monograph published in the Harvard Observatory Monographs series, devoted to the atmospheres of giant and supergiant stars, extending and deepening the discoveries of her thesis.
A comprehensive study of variable stars, the product of many years of systematic observation carried out with her husband Sergei Gaposchkin. A reference work for the next generation of astronomers.
A popular science book aimed at the general public and high school students, explaining the birth and evolution of stars in an accessible yet rigorous way.
A university textbook synthesizing the astronomical and astrophysical knowledge of its time, drawn from her Harvard courses and widely adopted at American universities.
An in-depth study of galactic novae carried out with Sergei Gaposchkin, contributing to the understanding of stellar explosions and their systematic classification.
Anecdotes
In 1925, Cecilia Payne concluded in her doctoral thesis that stars are composed of more than 90% hydrogen and helium. The eminent astronomer Henry Norris Russell firmly advised her to remove this conclusion, dismissing it as "almost certainly wrong" since it ran counter to the scientific consensus of the time. Four years later, Russell himself published identical findings, publicly acknowledging that she had been right from the start.
When Cecilia Payne studied at Cambridge in the 1920s, the university still did not award degrees to women: she attended lectures, passed her examinations brilliantly, but could receive no official qualification. It was this injustice that led her to cross the Atlantic and join the Harvard Observatory, where her work would finally be recognised.
The astronomer Otto Struve, one of the greatest names in twentieth-century astrophysics, called Cecilia Payne's thesis "the most brilliant doctoral dissertation ever written in astronomy." This verdict, echoed by many historians of science, reflects the enormous impact her work had on the entire discipline.
In 1956, after more than thirty years at Harvard, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin became the first woman appointed as a full professor at the university and the first to chair a department. Throughout all those years, she had produced first-rate scientific work without enjoying the same titles or the same pay as her male colleagues.
Cecilia Payne met the Russian astronomer Sergei Gaposchkin during a visit to Europe in the 1930s. A political refugee, he was unable to obtain an American visa through normal channels. She used all her influence with Harvard to help him enter the United States — a remarkable act of solidarity for the time, and the beginning of a life together and a scientific collaboration that would span several decades.
Primary Sources
The outstanding discrepancy between the astrophysical and terrestrial abundances of hydrogen is almost certainly not real. An enormous relative abundance of hydrogen in the stellar atmosphere is indicated.
It is clearly impossible that hydrogen should be so enormously abundant. Your result is almost certainly wrong. I think you should omit it from your thesis.
The spectra of the most luminous stars reveal exceptional conditions in their atmospheres, conditions far removed from those obtaining in the solar atmosphere.
I was to blame for much of the misunderstanding. I had submitted to authority when I should have stood by my convictions.
Key Places
Cecilia Payne's hometown, where she grew up and developed a passion for science at an early age — notably after attending a lecture by Arthur Eddington on relativity.
The women's college where Payne studied physics and astronomy with distinction, yet was never able to receive an official degree because of her sex — which ultimately drove her to emigrate to the United States.
The site of her entire scientific career, where she completed her groundbreaking doctoral thesis in 1925 and worked for more than fifty years, eventually becoming the first woman to hold a full professorship at the university.
A Harvard observing station used for large-scale photographic surveys. Payne had a significant portion of the photographic plates she analysed in her work on variable stars taken there.
