Blue plaque honours Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

I was pleased to represent the British Astronomical Association at the unveiling of Blue Plaque in honour of Celia Payne-Gaposchkin. Report and pics in the next Journal.

Speakers included Prof Michele Dougherty (Astronomer Royal), Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Dr Shini Somara, a representative from Harvard University, and students from St Paul’s Girl’s School. They spoke very powerfully about the barriers Celia had to overcome during her career.

It was at a BAA meeting in London that Celia was introduced to Harlow Shapley who was in charge of Harvard College Observatory. Their ensuing discussion led to her PhD at Harvard.

The person that introduced Celia to Shapley was Leslie Comrie. He knew Celia at Cambridge and was encouraging her interest in variable stars as well as to explore opportunities in USA. Comrie was Director of the BAA Computing Section (the first one, fact)