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Henrietta Swan Leavitt (/ ˈ l ɛ v ɪ t /; July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921 [2]) was an American astronomer. [1] Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast distances to remote galaxies led to a shift in the scale and understanding of the scale and the nature of the universe. [3]
Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer known for her discovery of the relationship between period and luminosity in Cepheid variables, pulsating stars that vary regularly in brightness in periods ranging from a few days to several months. Learn about her life and career.
A spiral of a trillion stars, the Andromeda Galaxy churns about 2.5 million light years away from Earth. Hubble’s remarkable observation would not have been possible without the work of Henrietta...
On the evening of December 12, 1921, as 53-year old astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt succumbed to cancer, heavy rains fell from the skies over Cambridge, Massachusetts. After nearly 30 years at the Harvard College Observatory, Leavitt and her stars, hidden by rain clouds, parted ways.
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...
Henrietta Leavitt was an astronomer who opened the door to a dramatic enlargement in the size of the known universe. She found that a certain type of star, the Cepheid variable, pulses at a rate that’s related to its brightness.
At Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th century, Henrietta Swan Leavitt developed a powerful new tool for estimating the distances of stars and galaxies.
Henrietta Leavitt: The portrait that emerged from her discovery, called Leavitt’s Law, showed that the universe was hundreds of times bigger than astronomers had imagined.
On the evening of December 12, 1921, as 53-year old astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt succumbed to cancer, heavy rains fell from the skies over Cambridge, Massachusetts. After nearly 30 years at the Harvard College Observatory, Leavitt and her stars, hidden by rain clouds, parted ways.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was an American astronomer and graduate of Radcliffe College, who worked as a computer at the Harvard College Observatory (HCO), where she examined glass photographic plates and measured the brightness, or magnitude, of stars.