MAINTENANCE – If Vera Rubin or Jocelyn Bell have finally reached posterity, many have remained in the background, despite sometimes major contributions, explains the astrophysicist.
Astrophysicist and CNRS research director in Liège, Belgium, Yaël Nazé is also an author and popularizer. In the book Female astronomerswhich has just been republished by Éditions du CNRS, this specialist in massive stars pays tribute to the pioneers of her discipline.
LE FIGARO. – Why have women been eclipsed from the history of astronomy?
Yael Naze. – For a long time, they have been assigned to supporting roles, including those that have enabled very significant advances. To make a career, women were subordinated to a husband, a brother or a laboratory director, and these men published in their place. Take the case of the 45 women recruited at the Harvard Observatory at the end of the 19e century. Edward Charles Pickering, its director, hired them for his stellar catalog project, the purpose of which was to present the position of the stars with their luminosity. He had decided to use very powerful photographic instruments to amass…
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