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Who was Henrietta Leavitt and what did she do to help map the universe?
Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s contribution to the field of astronomy is that she gave us the tools to map out the stars in the universe. She discovered the correlation between Period and Luminosity. This helped turn the sky into a three-dimensional map allowing astronomers to solve the unknown in the equation: Distance.
How did Leavitt discover variable stars?
By comparing thousands of photographic plates, Leavitt discovered a direct correlation between the time it takes for a Cepheid variable to go from bright to dim and back to bright, and how bright the star actually is (its “intrinsic brightness”). The longer the period of fluctuation, the brighter the star.
How many siblings did Henrietta Leavitt have?
On her release she went to Beloit to stay with her parents and two unmarried brothers, George William Leavitt, now a missionary, and Darwin Ashley Leavitt, now a Congregationalist minister.
How did Henrietta Leavitt lose her hearing?
Shortly after her graduation from what we now call Radcliffe, an illness caused Henrietta Swan Leavitt to lose her hearing. The Harvard College Observatory eventually hired her as a human “computer.” Her job: review the hordes of glass photographic plates and calculate the brightness of the stars in them.
What did Henrietta Swan Leavitt discover in 1908?
This work led her to discover the relation between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variables. Leavitt’s discovery provided astronomers with the first “standard candle” with which to measure the distance to faraway galaxies….
| Henrietta Swan Leavitt | |
|---|---|
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
What was Henrietta Swan Leavitt education?
Radcliffe College1892
Oberlin CollegeCambridge College
Henrietta Swan Leavitt/Education
Leavitt attended Oberlin College for two years (1886–88) and then transferred to the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women (later Radcliffe College), from which she graduated in 1892. Following an interest aroused in her senior year, she became a volunteer assistant in the Harvard Observatory in 1895.
When did Henrietta Swan Leavitt became deaf?
As a senior in 1892, Leavitt discovered astronomy. After graduation she took another course in it, but then spent several years at home when she suffered a serious illness that left her severely deaf.
What is Henrietta Swan Leavitt religion?
“Miss Leavitt inherited, in a somewhat chastened form, the stern values of her puritan ancestors. She took life seriously,” wrote her colleague, Solon. I. Bailey, upon her death. “Her sense of duty, justice and loyalty were strong.” He describes her as being religious, devoted to her family and a considerate friend.
Who was Henrietta Swan Leavitt and what did she do?
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was a Harvard “computer” — one of several women in the early 1900s who studied photographic plates for fundamental properties of stars. Leavitt is best known for discovering about 2,400 variable stars between 1907 and 1921…
How did Henrietta Swan Leavitt determine the universe is expanding?
After Leavitt’s death, Edwin Hubble used the luminosity–period relation for Cepheids, together with spectral shifts first measured by fellow astronomer, Vesto Slipher, at Lowell Observatory to determine that the universe is expanding (see Hubble’s law).
How did Henrietta Swan Leavitt discover the standard candle?
Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s findings were the base for the discoveries of several future astronomers. The period–luminosity relationship was the foundation of the theory of the “standard candle” in astronomy, which was the key aspect of measuring distance to the remotest galaxies in the observable universe.
How did Henrietta Leavitt contribute to the Big Bang theory?
astronomy: Development of the big-bang theory. In 1908 American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt had found a relationship between the period and the brightness: the brighter the Cepheid, the longer its period. Ejnar Hertzsprung and American astronomer Harlow Shapley went on to calibrate the relationship in terms of absolute magnitudes.