Half a million stellar images on glass photographic plates, taken over the span of a century, constitute a “glass universe” at the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The observatory’s far-sighted director, Edward Pickering, conceived the project in the late 19th century, with funding from two New York heiresses interested in astronomy, Anna Palmer Draper and Catherine Wolfe Bruce. As the collection of glass plates grew, unusual employment opportunities opened for “women’s work”.
Several of the women employed at the observatory became full-fledged—and famous— astronomers. Henrietta Leavitt translated the changing brightness of certain stars into a yardstick for measuring distances across space (now known as the Leavitt Law). Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, and Antonia Maury organized the stars into a classification system still used today. Cecilia Payne, the first person to earn a doctorate in astronomy at Harvard, figured out what stars are made of.
REVIEWS
“Ms. Sobel writes with an eye for a telling detail and an ear for an elegant turn of phrase….A joy to read.” –Wall Street Journal
“A peerless intellectual biography. The Glass Universe shines and twinkles as brightly as the stars themselves.” –The Economist
“A compelling portrait of pioneering women who contributed as much to the progress of female empowerment as they did to the global understanding of both astronomy and photography.” –Harper’s Bazaar
“Sobel lucidly captures the intricate, interdependent constellation of people it took to unlock mysteries of the stars.” –NPR