The Mystery of the Stars

Cecilia Payne refused to let the barriers of her time hold her back.

In early twentieth-century England, women couldn't even earn degrees at Cambridge, yet Cecilia pursued her dream of becoming a scientist. Her journey eventually led her to Harvard, where she peered deep into the stars and made a discovery that forever changed our understanding of the universe. Before Cecilia, scientists believed stars were like planets with hotter surfaces, but her work rewrote the story of the cosmos. Bold, brilliant, and ahead of her time, Cecilia Payne deserves a place alongside Isaac Newton, Galileo, and Albert Einstein.