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The Astronomer Who Brought Us the Universe
StartsWithABang writes If all we were able to do was look up at the sky and see what we can see, no matter how powerful our instruments became, we would be extraordinarily limited in what we could learn about the Universe. But if we could know some intrinsic properties about what we were looking at, then simply by measuring things like how bright these objects appear, we could figure out the cosmic distance scale; all it would require is knowledge of a "distance indicator" or "standard candle." The very first one ever discovered — by Henrietta Leavitt — is not only still in use today, but taught us the galactic nature of the spiral nebulae and gave us the expanding Universe.
They explored the universe without leaving the planet? But I've been assured by the Space Nutters that we must explore space and the only way to do it is by setting up a base on Mars?
and KEEP OFF MY LAWN!
when we get there we'll see.
Oh no! There's a space nutter behind you. Run! Save yourself. I'll try to hold them off.
Take this tinfoil hat. It may keep them from corrupting you telepathically!
yes, I'm sure she worked in complete isolation, and developed everything by herself.
No, she was a part of a group consisting entirely of women under the management of Edward Pickering at Harvard Observatory, called at the time "Pickering's Harem" Despite her groundbreaking accomplishments, Leavitt was unable to obtain a faculty position at Harvard, entirely due to her gender.
Times have changed a lot since then, despite the efforts of ignorant douchebags like you.
Oh slashdot, what have you become? The headline/summary are pure clickbait.
That cute girl wouldn't go out with you, huh?
So the statement, put enough xxxxxxxs in a room with a computer, one will make productive code in random ?
about anything other than the bafflingly irrelevant Wonderwall cover. What is that all about?
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The same happened to Marie Curie (you know, the only person to date to win two nobel prizes in different categories and the first to win two alltogether). She was not able to enroll in higher education in Poland because it was not accepting women. Luckily she went to Paris ...
I mean we've had the least competent person in the history of the US in the White House for 6 years because his dad was black
I'm fairly sure George W Bush's father wasn't black, and it was 8 years.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Leavitt's discovery is on a par with Galileo's discovery of the moons of Jupiter in changing our view of the universe. It combined a brilliant insight, that all the stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud are at about the same distance from Earth, and a lot of hard work analyzing photographic plates. Her measurement tool is still the main one used to determine cosmic distances from beyond the range of stellar parallax out to nearby galaxies, and is used, in turn, to calibrate Type Ia supernova, the standard candle for probing deep into intergalactic space, and back to the Big Bang. Another example of women astronomers getting less recognition than they deserve is Jocelyn Bell, who discovered millisecond pulsars and whose thesis advisor won the Nobel Prize for that discovery.
Leavitt's discovery is on a par with Galileo's discovery of the moons of Jupiter in changing our view of the universe. It combined a brilliant insight, that all the stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud are at about the same distance from Earth, and a lot of hard work analyzing photographic plates. Her measurement tool is still the main one used to determine cosmic distances from beyond the range of stellar parallax out to nearby galaxies, and is used, in turn, to calibrate Type Ia supernova, the standard candle for probing deep into intergalactic space, and back to the Big Bang.
Another example of women astronomers getting less recognition than they deserve is Jocelyn Bell, who discovered millisecond pulsars and whose thesis advisor won the Nobel Prize for that discovery.
And let's not forget Annie Jump Cannon; she was the creator of the OBAFGKM stellar classification system which is the foundation of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.
He's not an ignorant douche-bag. He's making the very reasonable (though inaccurate in this case) assumption that this was simply sexist propaganda. It's the sign of the times. I'm in my 50's and I've had racist and sexist propaganda pushed at me all my life. I mean we've had the least competent person in the history of the US in the White House for 6 years because his dad was black. What more proof do you need?
I know this has nothing to do with what the author of this post was writing about but it's so common I think the response is pretty easy to understand and something many (not brainwashed by the machine we call public school in the US) probably assumed anyway.
Yes, the poster is an ignorant douche-bag.
Ignorant because he's wrong and didn't bother to check his facts, and a douche-bag because he's demeaning the work of a person who overcame huge obstacles to produce this work and is dead over 80 years now.
yes, I'm sure she worked in complete isolation, and developed everything by herself.
I'm tired to see these bullshit articles. Like the other one of that supposed astronaut woman who had so many cessna hours she DESERVED to be in space but wasn't because patriarchy.
I'd say I'm horrified but slashdot has fallen so low it sometimes makes reddit seem like a source for news.
What supposed astronaut woman are you talking about?
I don't know if you misread that person's post.
Obama, whose father was black, being the LEAST (not most) imcompetent.
The first online site whose interface is so horrible that I specifically check to see if links go there before refusing to click them.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
GP Said least competent.