![]() ![]() Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography-enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. The "glass universe" of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades-through the generous support of Mrs. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. ![]() At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges-Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or "human computers," to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR's Science Friday. ![]() ![]() New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the'inspiring'(People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy'A joy to read."-The Wall Street Journal. ![]()
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