Glass Universe (Sobel)

The Glass Universe:  How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars
Dava Sobel, 2016
Penguin Books
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670016952


Summary
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.

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. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates.

The "glass universe" of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades—through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography—enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight.

Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard—and Harvard’s first female department chair.

Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—June 15, 1947
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., State University of New York-Binghamton
• Awards—National Science Board's Individual Public Service Award (more below)
• Currently—lives in East Hampton, Long Island, New York


Dava Sobel is an American author of popular books that explore scientific discoveries and the way they transform humanity's worldview. Her books include Longitude (1995), Galileo's Daughter (2000), The Planets (2005), A More Perfect Heaven (2011), and The Glass Universe (2016).

Sobel was raised in New York City, close enough to walk to the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden—which she did frequently at an early age. Both of her parents were readers, and her mother had trained as a chemist, so no one in her family considered it odd for a young girl to be drawn to the sciences.

Following her nose for science, Sobel attended and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science—considering it, as she says on her website, her most impressive credential. She completed her formal education at the State University of New York at Binghamton where she received her Bachelor's degree.

Sobel spent the next 20-some years of her career as a writer, first with a brief stint at IBM as a technical writer, then as a freelance journalist. She wrote for the Cornell University News Bureau, New York Times, Harvard Magazine, Science Digest, Omni, Discover, Audubon, Life, and The New Yorker.

In 1995, she published her first book—Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. The book became an unexpected success and launched Sobel's career as a full-time author.

More
That first book, Longitude, was adapted as a four-hour television film in 1999 starring Jeremy Irons. It was shown in the U.S. on the A&E channel. In addition, PBS's NOVA produced a science documentary, Lost At Sea—The Search for Longitude, based on the book.

Sorbel's fourth book, A More Perfect Heaven, had a different provenance than any of her other books: it started out as a stage play, a dialogue between Nicolaus Copernicus and his collaborator Georg Joachim Rheticus. From there it grew into a book recounting the tension between the Copernican heliocentric theory and the religious and political backdrop of the era.

Sobel has taught science writing at the University of Chicago, Mary Baldwin College (Staunton, VA), and Smith College (Northampton, MA).

Honors
1999 - Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award, American Academy of Arts & Sciences
2001 - Individual Public Service Award, National Science Board
2001 - Bradford Washburn Award, Boston Museum of Science
2002 - Honorary Doctorates: Middlebury College, University of Bath (UK)
2004 - Harrison Medal, Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (UK)
2008 - Klumpke-Roberts Award, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
2014 - Cultural Award, Eduard Rhein Foundation (Germany)
2015 - Honorary Doctorate: University of Bern (Switzerland)
(Author bio compiled by LitLovers, including the author's website.)

Book Reviews
It takes a talented writer to interweave professional achievement with personal insight. By the time I finished The Glass Universe, Dava Sobel's wonderful, meticulous account, it had moved me to tears.... Unforgettable.
Sue Nelson - Nature


Sobel shines a light on seven 19th- and 20th-century women astronomers who began as 'human computers,' interpreting data at Harvard Observatory, then went on to dazzle.... An inspiring look at celestial pioneers.
People


An astronomically large topic generously explored.
Oprah Magazine


(Starred review.) Sobel knows how to tell an engaging story, and this one flows smoothly, with just enough explication of the science.... With grace, clarity, and a flair for characterization, Sobel places these early women astronomers in the wider historical context of their field for the very first time.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) [Sobel] soars higher than ever before...[continuing] her streak of luminous science writing with this fascinating, witty, and most elegant history...The Glass Universe is a feast for those eager to absorb forgotten stories of resolute American women who expanded human knowledge. —Colleen Mondor
Booklist


Though this title isn't intended as a discipline-specific monograph, at times, it bogs readers down in scientific minutiae.... [Still,] a terrific catalog to match the exceptional work these women created in the course of their careers. —Faye Chadwell, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis
Library Journal


[A] recounting and celebrating the lives and work of these distinguished and decidedly unsung women....though, even after World War II and their contributions to it, women found it as difficult as ever to find scientific work. A welcome and engaging work that does honor to Sobel’s subjects.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, feel free to use these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Glass Universe...and then take off on your own:

1. Sobel is known for her ability as a writer to take hard science, reduce it into manageable bits of information, and then combine it with human interest stories. Does she achieve that goal here? Or was the pace of your reading bogged down with scientific minutae?

2. Talk about the women at the observatory? Consider, say, Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, What were they like and how did they fit—or not fit—within the confines or expectations of their times?

3.Consider, too, the two directors for whom the women worked—Edward Pickering and Harlow Shapley. How supportive were they to the women under them?

4. What was Williamina Flemming's response when she found that, even when appointed as the Curator of Astronomical Photographs, her salary fell far short of a man's?

5. How would you cast Harvard's track record concerning women in science over the years? Consider, in particular, Annie Jump Cannon and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

6. Can you point to one achievement that especially stunned you? Perhaps Nettie Farrar's calculation (to two decimal places) of the relative-brightness values of stars?

7. Perhaps you might talk about Anna Palmer Draper, who realized the value of telescopic photography with respect to the telescopic view.

8. Talk about the way in which the women worked in collaboration with one another—how their cooperative relationships furthered scientific understanding.

9. How would you describe the women's relationships with their male colleagues? Would you consider them maternal or nurturing or intellectually dominant? What about Annie Jump Cannon's oatmeal cookies?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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