Blue plaque to commemorate Harvard scientist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Please join English Heritage and the Harvard Club of the United Kingdom at the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating British-American astrophysicist and Harvard alumna,

CECILIA PAYNE-GAPOSCHKIN

Time: 10:45AM – noon (speeches start at 11:00AM)

Speakers will include:

• Dr Shini Somara (Engineer, author, broadcaster and member of the Blue Plaques Panel)
• Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell (Astrophysicist, Oxford University)
• Representative from Harvard University
• Representative from St. Paul’s Girls’ School

The plaque will be unveiled by:
• Professor Michele Dougherty (Astronomer Royal, Professor of Space Physics, Imperial College London)

After the unveiling, the homeowners will host a small reception with light refreshments. HCUK has limited places for the reception, and these are offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Unveiling ceremony £5
Unveiling ceremony and reception £10

*All proceeds will go towards supporting HCUK’s Prize Book project. Please register by April 16th.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Bio:

British-born Payne-Gaposchkin was the first woman to earn a PhD in astronomy at Harvard, to be promoted to full professor from within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and to head a department at the University. She developed her passion for the sciences at St. Paul’s Girls’ School in west London and later at Cambridge University. As Cambridge University did not grant degrees to women in those days, she secured grants to move to the US for a graduate fellowship at the Harvard College Observatory. Despite her successes, she suffered numerous indignities including the rejection of her groundbreaking dissertation. Eventually, the dissertation, which outlined the makeup of stellar atmospheres and proved the prevalence of hydrogen in the universe, was hailed by leading scientists as “undoubtedly the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy.”