Henrietta Swan Leavitt (jul 4, 1868 – dec 12, 1921)

Description:

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921), Astronomer

Life:
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was the daughter of a Congregational church minister in Massachusetts. It wasn’t until her fourth year at Radcliffe College that Leavitt took a course in astronomy. She also began working at Harvard College Observatory to measure and catalog the brightness of stars as they appeared in the observatory's photographic plate collection. In 1898 she became a member of the Harvard staff, as their first "Curator of Astronomical Photographs".

Contributions to Science:
Her work at the Harvard College Observatory led her to make a discovery which provided astronomers information they needed to measure distances to galaxies up to 20 million light years away. Prior to her discovery, astronomers used a now redundant method of determining distances which could only be used up to hundreds of light years. Since our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is ~100,000 light years big, Leavitt’s discovery was crucial. Leavitt’s discovery related the period of stability and brightness of pulsating stars termed Cepheids to the luminosity emitted by these stars. In fact, Edwin Hubble was only able to determine the universe was constantly expanding by using Leavitt’s law. Furthermore, this enabled discovery of Cepheids beyond our galaxy and forever changed our picture of the universe, as it prompted notable astronomer Harlow Shapley to move our Sun from the center of the galaxy in the "Great Debate" and Edwin Hubble to move our galaxy from the center of the universe. Unfortunately, Leavitt was to be a nominee for the Nobel Prize in 1925 but she died three years earlier. AT the time the Nobel prize was not awarded posthumously.

Fun Facts:
At 30 years of age, Leavitt’ contracted an illness which made her lose her hearing. The asteroid 5383 Leavitt and the crater Leavitt on the Moon are named after her to honor deaf men and women who have worked as astronomers.

Death:
Henrietta Swan Leavitt died of stomach cancer at the age of 53 in 1921.

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