Breaking Gender Barriers

Male astronomers would correct her on the smallest details, trying to find an excuse to prove her wrong. Even Professor Eddington "once said to [her], 'You don't mean in the stars, you mean on the stars'"(Payne-Gaposchkin).

"I was never to become a director - my sex debarred me"

~ Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Some of them thought she shouldn’t be doing that — the women, in particular. I never heard that from a man, but the mother of one of my friends might say, “The reason you kids have problems is because your mother works.” This kind of thing. You’d hear it. So what could you do about it?

~Katherine Haramundanis, Payne-Gaposhkin's Daughter

In a race for a director's position, Payne was turned down because of her gender, and she even faced opposition from other women around her.

Payne ignored the doubt and discrimination she received from others and continued to pursue science, struggling and fighting as she continued to work at the Observatory. Not only did she have to work to overcome great scientific barriers, but she also had to work against the prejudice that women faced to prove her scientific worth.

"My rebellion was against being though, and treated, as inferior"

~ Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (Payne-Gaposchkin)

Payne also pursued breaking the barriers of traditional gender norms in her household.

"In terms of how the house actually ran, my mother was clearly the scientist first, although she was a strong, comforting mother. She did all the cooking ... But my father did the housework in terms of cleaning, washing the floor. "

~ Katherine Haramundanis

Cecilia Payne Holding Science Journal and Sergei Gaposchkin Holding Rope [Image Courtesy Harvard Library]

"In 1956 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin became the first woman to be promoted to full professor from within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and soon after was appointed the third chair, making her the first woman to head a department at Harvard University" (Scholton). This marked another major step towards gender equality in Harvard and the field of astronomy.

Payne (right) on the Radcliffe Panorama [Image Credit Harvard Hollis].

Payne was also commended by many astronomers, and Otto Struve, a Russian-American Astronomer, said she wrote "undoubtedly the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy" (Scholton).

Awards

"Member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923)

1st recipient of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (1934)

Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1943)

Rittenhouse Medal from the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society at the Franklin Institute (1961)

Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society (1976)"