Publishers Weekly
03/02/2020
Journalist Moore illuminates the amazing life and work of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979) in his well-researched debut biography. Born in the English town of Wendover, Cecilia was “relentlessly” curious and taught herself math at a young age. Determined to be a scientist, Cecilia studied hard and earned a place at Cambridge in 1919, home to the finest minds in physics at the time. Lectures by Niels Bohr fueled Cecilia’s fascination with atomic physics and the new field of quantum mechanics. Moore vividly describes the challenges that Cecilia and other women faced. Cecilia’s determination and intelligence brought her to the U.S., where more professional opportunities existed for women, and to a position at Harvard College Observatory. There she met other female astronomers, including Henrietta Leavitt and Annie Jump Cannon, and used Harvard’s treasure trove of astronomical photos to determine the constituent elements of stars. In addition to Cecilia’s life, Moore captures a fascinating period of change in science, when physics was in flux and astrophysics was brand-new, and in the world as a whole, as new opportunities opened up for women. This is a fascinating look at a pioneer in science. (Mar.)
Science - Jennifer Carson
Moore charts Payne-Gaposchkin’s scientific life from grade school standout to world-class astronomer.
New Scientist - Donna Lu
A rich and illuminating biography of a scientist whose contributions have been underappreciated for too long.
A Mighty Girl
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin is one of the most important scientists that you’ve never heard of…Moore pays tribute to a tenacious scientist whose many firsts helped break new ground—and whose spirit of discovery changed our understanding of the universe.
Physics Today - David A. Weintraub
Payne-Gaposchkin pounded on astronomy’s glass ceiling, and she was the first to put major cracks in it. But in many places, the ceiling was impervious to her effort and intellect. She deserves more praise for her accomplishments than she has received…Fortunately, Moore’s new biography of this brilliant scientist is a must-read.
Billie Jean King
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s success was not achieved by chance. She triumphed by facing down every obstacle, by never giving up, by being, as she says, ‘doggedly persistent.’ Donovan Moore brings Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin to the front of history in a way that inspires us, educates us, and makes us want to be better. Champions adapt, and Cecilia was a champion.
Jessie Christiansen
I devoured this book in a single weekend. Donovan Moore artfully portrays the lack of recognition for Payne-Gaposchkin’s paradigm-changing discoveries and embarks, as resolutely as Cecilia herself, to set the record straight.
Emily Rice
What Stars Are Made Of provides both an accessible introduction to and an expansive context for the life and work of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of the most brilliant astrophysicists of the twentieth century. The sharing of stories like Payne-Gaposchkin’s will reshape the future of science so that all aspiring scientists may reach their full potential as we continue to explore the universe.
Nature Astronomy - Patricia Ann Whitelock
Tells the story of a brilliant and altogether remarkable astronomer who is not nearly as famous as she should be. This clear and articulate book may go some way to rectify that situation…We owe a great deal to pioneers such as Cecilia Payne-Gaposhkin, who should be better known and whose achievements should be much more widely celebrated.
Sara Seager
An astronomy icon is finally brought to life in this captivating and inspiring must-read. Donovan Moore digs deep to reveal a scientist far ahead of her time.
Space Review - Jeff Foust
An engaging, enlightening biography about a key figure in astrophysics in the 20th century.
Literary Review - John Gribbin
Welcome not just because it puts the record straight for a wider audience but also because it is the proverbial good read, setting Payne’s achievements in the context of her times.
Book Post - Priyamvada Natarajan
Recounts the remarkable story of this unusually gifted scientist.
Scott Kelly
What Stars Are Made Of celebrates the scientist responsible for discovering the composition of stars. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin dedicated her life to the pursuit of science when very few women were given the chance. Throughout her long career, she never stopped adapting her methods and embracing new ideas, fueled by a passion to understand the universe and our place in it.
Nature - Giuseppina Fabbiano
Male astronomers often achieve a popular fame that eluded one of the field’s most distinguished women: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. That should be remedied by Donovan Moore’s engaging and accessible biography. It skillfully opens up Payne’s achievements and adventures by setting them in the global village of astronomy…Moore illuminates Payne’s development into a remarkable scientist.
BBC Sky at Night - Emily Winterburn
Payne comes across as a fascinating woman, navigating the various gender-based obstacles in her way to build a life and career in a new subject (astrophysics) in a new country…An entertaining, engaging, and informative read.
Physics World
Extremely well-researched, detailed and engaging, with a perfect mix of history, anecdotes and scientific explanations, Moore brings to life the bright light that was Payne-Gaposchkin.
Chemistry World - Bill Griffith
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was one of the world’s first astrochemists. This book tells of her striking scientific insights, her frustrations as a female scientist and how she rose to become the first female professor at Harvard University…Very readable and well organized, giving remarkable insights into its paradoxical subject who was both shy but determined…A worthy tribute to a truly remarkable woman.
Wall Street Journal - Marcia Bartusiak
The first full-length biography, a beautifully written and well-researched study. Handling the science with a light but deft touch, Moore primarily focuses on this astronomer’s personal life, the office politics, and the struggles one woman of science faced in the first half of the 20th century.
Science News - Christopher Crockett
Moore takes readers on a meticulously researched tour of Payne-Gaposchkin’s remarkable life, drawn from family interviews, contemporary accounts and Payne-Gaposchkin’s own writings. It’s a riveting tale of a woman who knocked down every wall put before her to get the answers she desired about the cosmos.
Jo Dunkley
Through vivid and eloquent prose, this book applauds the great astronomer who discovered what stars themselves are made of. Moore brings the inspirational story of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin to center stage, where it belongs.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-12-03
A fine biography of perhaps the greatest astronomer of the past century that no one has heard of.
Journalist Moore's subject is Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979), the eldest of three in a middle-class British family and clearly a prodigy, fascinated by natural history and science. Her father, who encouraged her pursuits, died when she was young, leaving the family short of money and with a mother of traditional, conservative views. As the author writes, she believed that "boys were to be educated, girls refined." Despite favoring her son, she did not discourage Cecilia, who was lucky to encounter teachers who recognized her talents. Winning a scholarship, she studied physics at Cambridge until, inspired by a talk from the renowned Arthur Eddington, she changed to astronomy. She earned no degree because Cambridge did not give women degrees until 1948. Her teachers admitted that she had no future as an astronomer in Britain, so she went to Harvard to work under the charismatic Harlow Shapley, who was known for hiring women. Assigned to analyze the massive collection of photographic plates in observatory archives, Payne-Gaposchkin determined that helium was thousands of times more abundant and hydrogen millions of times more abundant in stars than on Earth. The discovery, presented in her 1925 doctoral thesis, was greeted skeptically but soon found to be correct. One scientist called it "the most brilliant thesis ever written in astronomy." Although Payne-Gaposchkin enjoyed an international reputation by the 1930s, Harvard's catalog did not list her extremely popular classes until 1945. Appointed the first woman full professor in its faculty of arts and sciences in 1956, she became chair of the department of astronomy and died with many honors. Readers will gnash their teeth as Moore recounts the discrimination she endured. This annoyed Payne-Gaposchkin, but astronomy was her obsession, so she rarely made a fuss, and male astronomers, once they realized her brilliance, mostly treated her well.
An outstanding life of an impressive scientist.
