Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (May 10, 1900 – December 7, 1979) was a British-American astronomer and astrophysicist. She discovered that hydrogen and helium are the most common materials inside stars.[1]
Early life
[change | change source]She was born in Wendover, England. In 1919, she won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge University. She studied botany, physics, and chemistry.[2] She was not given a degree because women were not given degrees by Cambridge until 1948. In 1923, she moved to the United States. She became an American citizen in 1931.
Personal life
[change | change source]In 1933, she met Russian-born astrophysicist Sergei I. Gaposchkin in Germany. She married him in 1934.[2] They worked together to research variable stars.[3]
Scientific work
[change | change source]Her Ph.D. thesis was called Stellar Atmospheres; A Contribution to the Observational Study of High Temperature in the Reversing Layers of Stars.[4] While she wrote her thesis, she discovered that stars were mostly made from hydrogen and helium.[2]
The astronomer Otto Struve called her thesis "undoubtedly the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis every written in astronomy".[2]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Keating, Jessica (28 November 2025). "Celebrating a trailblazer". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Christ, Marian (24 April 2023). "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, 1900-1979". American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ Gregersen, Erik. "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin". Britannica. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ Payne, Cecilia (1 May 1925). Stellar Atmospheres; A Contribution to the Observational Study of High Temperature in the Reversing Layers of Stars (PhD thesis). The Observatory. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
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