Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: the woman who discovered what stars are made of
The English Heritage PodcastShow Notes
In 1911, when Cecila Payne was eleven, she was so musically gifted that none other than the great composer Gustav Holst encouraged her to take up music as a career.
But her sights were set – literally – much higher.
Her passion for science would lead her to become one of the leading astronomers of her generation and she changed our understanding of the universe forever when she discovered what stars are actually made of. But in an age where female scientists were frequently marginalised and dismissed, she was initially made to repress her results and struggled against prejudice and discrimination her whole life.
To tell her incredible story, Amy is joined by English Heritage Blue Plaques historian, Dr Susan Skedd; Centre for Astrophysics’ Thom Burns and Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, herself a pioneering astrophysicist whose groundbreaking discovery of pulsars in the late 60s also transformed our understanding of the universe. She was subjected to a similar lack of recognition when her name was missed off the Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to her supervisor. We discover how she is working tirelessly to increase diversity in science and to carry on the fight Cecilia began over a century ago.
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