The Edge of Physics Quotes

“Henrietta Swan Leavitt worked as a human "computer" in the late 1800s. Her job was to count stars at the Harvard College Observatory, which had taken on the ambitious task of cataloging every star in the sky. The work demanded painstaking manual inspection of photographic plates to pin down the stars' position, color, and brightness. Edward Pickering, the director of the observatory, recruited men to do the job, only to be frustrated by their "lack of concentration and failure to pay attention to detail." Convinced that women could do a better job, he fired the men and hired a team of women, who were nicknamed "Pickering's Harem." Not only did Pickering get a more diligent team of workers, he paid them only about half as much as he paid the men. And he did not have to worry about the women wanting to make their own observations, for (as at Mount Wilson) they were not allowed to use the telescopes. It was as part of this team of desk-bound computers that Leavitt discovered something extraordinary.”
― Anil Ananthaswamy, The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe