The Glass Sky. How Women of the Harvard Observatory Measured the Stars

In the mid-19th century, the Harvard Observatory began hiring women as calculators to interpret the results of nightly astronomical observations carried out by men. Initially, these were the wives, sisters, and daughters of the observatory's staff astronomers, and later they were joined by graduates of women's colleges.

When photography became part of astronomical practice, women, in addition to calculations, began studying the stars captured at night on glass photographic plates. The "glass universe" of half a million photographic plates accumulated at Harvard over the decades allowed women to make remarkable discoveries that gained worldwide recognition. They helped to understand what stars are made of, classify them, and find a way to determine interstellar distances.

The book contains a wealth of interesting facts, with many excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs. In fact, it is the story of women whose contributions to science changed our understanding of stars and humanity's place in the Universe.

The book is primarily aimed at those interested in astronomy and the history of our understanding of the Universe.