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The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars Hardcover – December 6, 2016

by Dava Sobel (Author)

4.4 438 ratings

Editors' pick Best History

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book

Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR's Science Friday

Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

"A joy to read.” —The Wall Street Journal

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or “human computers,” to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges—Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates.

The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades—through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography—enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard—and Harvard’s first female department chair.

Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Railroad heiress Anna Draper was introduced to a love of the stars by her husband, Dr. Henry Draper, whose stellar photography was recognized throughout the United States. After his death, Anna Draper wished to continue his work photographing stars and reached out to one of his many prominent scientific colleagues, Edward Pickering, a professor at the Harvard College Observatory. Henry Draper's work reflected the changes in the late 1800s in the field of astronomy as advancements in photography improved the quality of stellar images. As technology progressed, more people were needed to analyze and preserve the images. The Harvard College Observatory expanded their staff (previously only men) to include the wives and other family members of the astronomers working at Harvard; eventually graduates of women's colleges such as Vassar, Radcliffe, and Wellesley were employed as well. The women were originally hired as human calculators, but their roles grew to encompass cataloging the images as well as participating in the astronomical studies conducted by the male astronomers. Over time, the women's contributions to the field of astronomy ranged from identifying new stars to developing a stellar classification system that is still in use today. Relying on primary source materials such as letters and memoirs, Sobel crafts a story that illuminates the crucial role women played in the scientific community. VERDICT Teens interested in astronomy and the recent Hidden Figures will be fascinated by the work and discoveries made by these ambitious and talented women.—Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

Review

Named one of the best books of the month by Flavorwire, Bustle, Harper’s Bazaar, Real Simple, Refinery29, Men’s Journal, BBC, and The National Book Review

“Ms. Sobel writes with an eye for a telling detail and an ear for an elegant turn of phrase. . . . [The Glass Universe is] a joy to read.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Sobel lucidly captures the intricate, interdependent constellation of people it took to unlock mysteries of the stars . . . The Glass Universe positively glows.” —NPR

“An elegant historical tale…[from] the master storyteller of astronomy.” –The Boston Globe

"Sobel mixes discussions of the most abstruse topics with telling glimpses of her subjects’ lives, in the process showing how scientific and social progress often go hand in hand." –The New Yorker

"A peerless intellectual biography. The Glass Universe shines and twinkles as brightly as the stars themselves. –The Economist

“At once an exhaustive and detailed account of a breakthrough moment in the world of science, as well as a compelling portrait of pioneering women who contributed as much to the progress of female empowerment as they did to the global understanding of both astronomy and photography.” —Harper’s Bazaar

"[Sobel] traces a remarkable line in American female achievement…[and] captures the stalwart spirit of Pickering’s female finds." —USA Today

“Sobel has distinguished herself with lucid books about scientists and their discoveries . . . [She] vividly captures how her brilliant and ambitious protagonists charted the skies, and found personal fulfillment in triumphant discovery.” —The National Book Review

“A fascinating and inspiring tale of . . . female pioneers who have been shamefully overlooked.” —Real Simple

"Sobel shines a light on seven 19th- and 20th-century women astronomers who began as 'human computers,' interpreting data at Harvard Observatory, then went on to dazzle...An inspiring look at celestial pioneers." —People

"An astronomically large topic generously explored." —O, The Oprah Magazine

"It takes a talented writer to interweave professional achievement with personal insight. By the time I finished The Glass Universe, Dava Sobel's wonderful, meticulous account, it had moved me to tears...Unforgettable." —Sue Nelson, Nature

"A compelling read and a welcome reminder that American women have long desired to reach for the stars.” —Bookpage

"Sensitive, exacting, and lit with the wonder of discovery." —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

"This is intellectual history at its finest. Dava Sobel is extraordinarily accomplished at uncovering the hidden stories of science." —Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Chord and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March

“[Sobel] soars higher than ever before...[continuing] her streak of luminous science writing with this fascinating, witty, and most elegant history...The Glass Universe is a feast for those eager to absorb forgotten stories of resolute American women who expanded human knowledge." —Booklist, Starred Review

"Sobel knows how to tell an engaging story...With grace, clarity, and a flair for characterization, [she] places these early women astronomers in the wider historical context of their field for the very first time." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Praise for The Planets

"[The Planets] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." —The New York Times Book Review

"[Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . A splendid and enticing book." —San Francisco Chronicle

"An incantatory serenade to the Solar System." —Entertainment Weekly

Praise for Galileo's Daughter

"Sobel is a master storyteller. . . . She brings a great scientist to life." —The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Longitude

"This is a gem of a book." —The New York Times

"A simple tale, brilliantly told." —The Washington Post

Praise for A More Perfect Heaven

"Ms. Sobel is an elegant stylist, a riveting and efficient storyteller, a writer who can bring the dustiest of subjects to full-blooded life." —The New York Times

"Lively, inventive . . . a masterly specimen of close-range cultural history."—The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

DAVA SOBEL is the author of five books, including the New York Times bestsellers Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and The Glass Universe. A former New York Times science reporter and longtime contributor to The New Yorker, Audubon, Discover, and Harvard Magazine, she is the recipient of the National Science Board’s Individual Public Service Award and the Boston Museum of Science’s Bradford Washburn Award, among others.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Miss Cannon had classified one hundred thousand stars when she set the work aside to spend the summer of 1913 in Europe with her sister, Mrs. Marshall. They planned to attend three major astronomy meetings on the continent, plus all the banquets, garden parties, excursions, and entertainments that such international congresses entailed. On her previous trip to Europe, with her friend and Wellesley classmate Sarah Potter in 1892, Miss Cannon had made the grand tour of popular tourist destinations, camera in hand. This time she would go as a respected astronomer and the only female officer in her professional organization. At the 1912 meeting of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America, the members had voted to change their name to the American Astronomical Society and to make her their treasurer. Now she would seek out her foreign colleagues, many of whom she knew only by reputation or correspondence, in their native settings.

“There are no women assistants,” Miss Cannon noted of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Travel broadened her appreciation for the singularity of Harvard’s large female staff, although she easily befriended men wherever she went. At Greenwich, “Without the slightest feeling of being out of place, without the smallest tinge of embarrassment, I discussed absorbing work with one and another.” That evening the astronomer royal, Frank Dyson, called for Miss Cannon and Mrs. Marshall at their London hotel and escorted them to a soiree at Burlington House, the headquarters of the Royal Astronomical Society and four other scientific fraternities. “Never has it been my good fortune to have such a kindly greeting, such hearty good will, such wonderful feeling of equality in the great world of research as among these great Englishmen.” At the society’s meeting a few days later, she gave a formal presentation about her recent investigation into the spectra of gaseous nebulae.

Mrs. Marshall understandably avoided the scientific sessions, at which Miss Cannon inured herself to being the sole woman in a roomful of as many as ninety men. In Germany, she reported, “Not a single German woman attended these Hamburg meetings” of the Astronomische Gesellschaft. “Once or twice, two or three would come in for a few minutes but I was generally the only woman to sit through a session. This was not so pleasant but at the recesses the men were so kind that nothing seemed to matter, and at the luncheon women appeared in great numbers.”

In Bonn, where the Solar Union gathered from July 30 to August 5, the astronomers were treated to a flyby visit of a military zeppelin, a side trip to the Gothic cathedral at Cologne, a riverboat ride up the Rhine, and a gala night in the Bonn observatory that prompted the English-speaking delegates to sing “They Are Jolly Good Fellows” to Director Friedrich Küstner and his wife and daughters. “Luncheon and indeed all meals in Germany,” observed Canadian astrophysicist John Stanley Plaskett, “are a much more important and solemn function than with us and take at least twice the time.”

Pickering, an elder statesman in this community, spoke at several banquets during the week. He shared impressions of his previous stays in Bonn, a city he had long regarded as the world capital of photometry. It was here that the legendary Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander assembled the Bonner Durchmusterung star catalogue and perfected the Argelander method of studying variables by comparing them to their steady neighbors. Argelander’s own small telescope, still mounted at the Bonn observatory, proved an object of veneration for the visiting astronomers.

Only about half the members of Pickering’s Committee on Spectral Classification, first convened at Mount Wilson, had come to the Bonn meeting. Those present included Henry Norris Russell, Karl Schwarzschild, Herbert Hall Turner, and of course Küstner, of the local observatory. They met Thursday afternoon, July 31, to polish their report before Friday’s discussion and vote. The group had considered incorporating some symbols into the Draper classification that would account for the widths of spectral lines, but ultimately rejected the idea. Rather than retrofit the Draper system, they preferred to look forward and explore the possibility of an entirely new design for stellar taxonomy.

On Friday morning Chairman Pickering read the committee’s recommendation to the full assembly at the Physical Institute. He proposed postponing “the permanent and universal adoption” of any system until the committee could formulate a suitable revision. In the interim, however, everyone should foster the well-known and widely praised Draper classification. Approval of the resolution was swift and unanimous. Ditto the subresolution regarding a refinement originally suggested by Ejnar Hertzsprung and already practiced by Miss Cannon. It consisted of a zero subscript for lone letters. Going forward, A0 would denote a star of purely A‑category attributes, showing no B tendencies whatever. The new A0 reduced plain A to a “rough” categorization.

At the final session on August 5, the Solar Union dissolved its old committees and regrouped into new ones for the work to be done over the next three years, before they would all meet again in Rome. “When the names of committees were read,” wrote Miss Cannon, “I was very much surprised to find that I was put on the Committee on Classification of Stellar Spectra—and one of the novel experiences of the summer was to meet with this Committee. They sat at a long table, these men of many nations, and I was the only woman. Since I have done almost all the world’s work in this one branch, it was necessary for me to do most of the talking.”

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking; First Edition (December 6, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0670016950
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670016952
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1330L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.31 x 1.14 x 9.31 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #244,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #376 in Astronomy (Books)
- #653 in Women in History
- #736 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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4.4 438 ratings

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Dava Sobel

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Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947, The Bronx, New York) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Her books include Longitude, about English clockmaker John Harrison, and Galileo's Daughter, about Galileo's daughterMaria Celeste.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Ragesoss (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They describe it as a great read that captures astronomical history with delightful accounts of scientific discoveries. Readers praise the writing quality as clear and lyrical.

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34 customers mention "Information quality"27 positive7 negative

Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They appreciate the author's descriptions of the early women astronomers' contributions and the accurate information about the history of astronomy. While some readers find the writing science-heavy, the author writes in an engaging way that makes the subject accessible.

"...women changing the course of astronomy by their hard work, scientific acumen and strokes of genius...." Read more

"...For the rest of us, this is an upbeat, insightful, and hopeful work that shows the work of exploration is not just for the boys anymore." Read more

"...So, yes, Sobel does a good job of describing their contributions. But her narrative is on the dry side. I'm a big astronomy fan so I liked this book...." Read more

"...Detectives", but her examination brings an unprecedented level of detail that demonstrates the significance of the women of the Harvard..." Read more

27 customers mention "Readability"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-researched and interesting. They describe it as a conversational style written in an engaging way for general readers. The book depicts the lives of brilliant women in an age.

"...Written in a conversational style and aimed at general readers, this is an engaging story of clues and discoveries made possible by the ambitious..." Read more

"...Previous books (Longitude and Galileo's Daughter) are also well worth reading. She is thorough but never plodding in her retelling of history...." Read more

"This was a fantastic book about the early days of astronomy and the importance of Harvard University in many, many discoveries that led to..." Read more

"...I'm glad I did.This is a really interesting read for someone interested in astronomy and its history, as well as the difficulties that women..." Read more

20 customers mention "Narrative quality"18 positive2 negative

Customers enjoy the narrative quality of the book. They find it interesting and engaging, offering delightful accounts of scientific discoveries and glimpses into history. Readers mention it's a good read and an important part of science history.

"This is a well researched depiction of the history of the observatory program at Harvard University at the turn of the 20th century with an emphasis..." Read more

"...subject of women in science or not, this book is just a great snapshot of science history, period...." Read more

"...It's extremely interesting, but does read much like a textbook. Recommended to readers interested in astronomy." Read more

"...correspondence and diaries, thus offering both delightful accounts of the scientific discoveries and glimpses into the personal lives of the people..." Read more

15 customers mention "Writing quality"12 positive3 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the author's ability to distill information into clear sentences. The writing style is described as lyrical and thorough.

"...of women in science would enjoy this thoroughly researched, and lyrical work by Dava Sobel...." Read more

"...Great reading. Also enjoy Longitude by this same author. Great writer." Read more

"...Ms. Sobel has a unique gift of distilling into clear sentences the obviously vast amount of information she gleaned from numerous primary sources,..." Read more

"...unannotated footnotes in the back of the book are crucial, but difficult to read, but are worth the effort...." Read more

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Meribeth Meixner Reed, PhD
I am a fan because I have enjoyed Sobel's Longitude and Galileo's Daughter many times each
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2017
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Meribeth Meixner Reed, PhD
6 June 2017

Sobel, Dava. (2016). The Glass Universe: How the ladies of the Harvard Observatory took the measure of the stars. New York, NY: Viking.

Women's expeditions into advanced mathematics and science are not the same as men's. That was notoriously true in 19th and 20th century America, as gate-keepers protecting the realm of men (while ostensibly and disingenuously protecting the fairer sex) unapologetically denied gender equality. Recall that before 1920, women in most of the US did not have the right to vote.

Glass Universe is an important women's history overlaid on a history of astronomy and astrophysics. The title refers to the half million glass photographic plates on which stellar observations were recorded, and the subtitle reveals the subject of Dava Sobel's exploration, developed through a series of biographies. A chronologic approach was taken, focusing on several key players with a large supporting cast, while the observatory is the stage.

Award-winning science writer Sobel introduces a cadre of astronomers previously known to few of us, although their discoveries and taxonomies are fundamental today. I am a fan because I have enjoyed Sobel's Longitude and Galileo's Daughter many times each. Her research is rigorous, and she treats her subject astronomers with admiration and love, describing women pioneers in photography; spectroscopy; stellar origins, evolution, and chemistry; and astrophysics. Positions of primacy are given to Williamina Fleming (1857-1911), who devised a classification scheme for stars and discovered more than 300 variable stars; and Antonia Maury (1866-1952), whose enhanced spectral classification scheme based on improvements in photography distinguished between giant and dwarf stars, and who identified spectroscopic binaries.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921) established a system to measure distances across space based on the brightness of stars, and her co-worker of two decades, Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) classified and cataloged the light spectra of hundreds of thousands of stars. Cannon also mentored Cecilia Payne (Gaposchkin)(1900-1979), who revealed the physical and chemical nature of stars, the articulation of physics and astronomy, or astrophysics. Hers was the first PhD in Astronomy conferred by Harvard/Radcliffe (1925). Heiresses Anna Palmer Draper (1839-1914) and Catherine Wolfe Bruce (1816-1900) also advanced astronomy as generous benefactors.

Reading this book required three and four bookmarks. The text is 323 pages, including bibliography and index. There is so much information -- unwrapping the life stories of many astronomers -- that I frequently flipped back and forth between sections to help me distinguish between individuals. An extensive timeline is concealed under the title Highlights of the Observatory (pp. 273-279), and that was important to bookmark, as is the alphabetic catalog of astronomers and others (pp. 285-292), and the glossary located between them. Six color photos are centered in the book, which includes 20 pictures of the visionaries. But the unconventional lack of scholarly references and citations is not explained, despite the wide use of quotations, and it is not clear why the academic title Dr. was so seldom and inconsistently used.

Through this book, Sobel opened a new universe for me, sending me searching for more information on these fascinating women of science. These astronomers who changed our understanding of the universe demonstrated resilience in the face of denied academic degrees, titles, awards, positions, and reasonable pay based explicitly on their gender, even as they published seminal works in the science.

Like artists, scientists pursue original thoughts and intellectual challenges. The interpretation of findings and written expression are steps in a solitary creative endeavor. They must have great faith in those to whom they reveal and entrust their discoveries. I imagine these pioneers created a supportive environment for each other, a privileged sisterhood, enabling them to retain their unique positions in the observatory and the academy, fully aware that most women were denied access to such work and study. And they were probably not surprised when others took credit for their work. Yet the women remained committed to expanding, generating, and then sharing knowledge. They were as brilliant as the stars they were measuring in as many dimensions.

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Van Webster
A book about the history of Women in Astronomy
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2017
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This is a well researched depiction of the history of the observatory program at Harvard University at the turn of the 20th century with an emphasis on the role played by women in the research and scholarly publications by the university. Written in a conversational style and aimed at general readers, this is an engaging story of clues and discoveries made possible by the ambitious astro photographic efforts of the Harvard Observatories and the contributions made by "computers" primarily women who examined, measured and cataloged the glass plate astro photographs, hence the title "Glass Universe". In so doing, critical understandings and the organization of astronomical knowledge became the foundation for astrophysical discoveries made at Harvard and at other observatories including Mt. Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, CA. This book can be particularly enlightening to high school age readers who are interested in discovering role models for women in science.

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Robert H. Moore
A great read, an important part of science history. Highly recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2018
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I've been teaching general education astronomy classes for several years and had brought up the Harvard "Calculators" in lecture, so I was eager to get a more in-depth understanding of that era in astronomy. I had expected to read about how poorly the women were treated, kept from telescope work and relegated to menial tasks of looking at photographic plates, etc. Instead, we see strong and brilliant women changing the course of astronomy by their hard work, scientific acumen and strokes of genius. The expected resistance to women in leadership roles is there, to be sure, but not so much within the Harvard observatory community as from the university higher-ups. Several of these "calculator" women were internationally recognized as leaders in the field. Even the wealthy benefactors (such as Henry Draper's widow, Anna Draper), who helped the observatory's work to greatly expand, were women.

Whether you're specifically interested in the subject of women in science or not, this book is just a great snapshot of science history, period. From the late 1800's, when next to nothing was known about what stars were made of, their lifecycle, whether there were other galaxies or not, etc., to the work of Edwin Hubble in the 1920's and 30's, with the discovery of an expanding universe populated by untold numbers of galaxies, a scientific road runs through the work of the ladies of the Harvard Observatory. The "big names" (like Hubble, Hertzsprung, Russell) were indebted to their work.

In short, another great book from Dava Sobel. Previous books (Longitude and Galileo's Daughter) are also well worth reading. She is thorough but never plodding in her retelling of history. It feels alive, moving at times, and always interesting.

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Francois Boucher
Dava Sobel, again, tells a great story!
Reviewed in Canada on February 25, 2023
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Fascinating story (just as Longitude…) very well told. Ms Sobel is a fine storyteller.

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Sally
Credit where Credit is due!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2024
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This book is very well researched and very informative. For anyone with connections to any of the people mentioned or for people interested in the history of astronomy and the contributions of brilliant women, this book is for you,

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Dola Bhattacharyya
Awesome book
Reviewed in India on July 15, 2019
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Nice book

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Cliente Amazon
Excelente compra!
Reviewed in Brazil on February 23, 2017
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O livro chegou em ótimo estado, bem protegido, bem embalado. Este é um livro excelente para quem está interessado em conhecer um pouco mais sobre a história da física. Super indicado!!

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roderick garland
Ladies Rule the Universe
Reviewed in Canada on June 30, 2022
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These ladies weren't men's equals, they were superior, pioneering scientific advances into the realm of the new astronomical knowledge of the Universe. Great and easy read.

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The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars Hardcover – December 6, 2016

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