cluckingbell's review against another edition
3.0
Far less the untold story of Henrietta Leavitt than a layman's introduction to how astronomical measurements evolved in the 20th century particularly. As much as there is to know about Leavitt may be in here, as well as clarifications of what Google will tell you, but read it for the wonderfully approachable explanations of the science.
erikamarconato's review against another edition
4.0
Più che una storia su Miss Leavitt (che fu praticamente un fantasma) è uno scritto sull'evoluzione dell'astronomia, in particolare la misurazione delle distanze delle stelle. Henrietta Leavitt era molto scrupolosa nel suo lavoro (che consisteva nel misurare la luminosità delle stelle da lastre fotografiche) e scoprì delle "variabili" ricorrenti, che diventarono la sua ossessione. In base a questa scoperta (di fatto erano stelle in una costellazione e orbitavano, cambiando la luminosità nel corso degli anni), gli astonomi hanno potuto procedere alla triangolazione delle distanze stellari.
George Johnson, l'autore, scrive bene ed il saggio è piacevole e scorrevole. Henrietta, di contro, scrisse poco - pochissimo - e fu considerata poco meno di un'operaia dagli astronomi del suo dipartimento. Nonostante ciò, si vocifera che fu presa in considerazione per il Nobel (purtroppo era deceduta e il suo capo cercò di prendersi i meriti della scoperta di Henrietta).
George Johnson, l'autore, scrive bene ed il saggio è piacevole e scorrevole. Henrietta, di contro, scrisse poco - pochissimo - e fu considerata poco meno di un'operaia dagli astronomi del suo dipartimento. Nonostante ciò, si vocifera che fu presa in considerazione per il Nobel (purtroppo era deceduta e il suo capo cercò di prendersi i meriti della scoperta di Henrietta).
mephelan's review against another edition
3.0
Johnson does a decent job of telling the story of how we came to learn the size of the universe. This was fine but ultimately unsatisfying, as Leavitt is barely a major character in her own scientific biography. Johnson notes in the preface that very little is known about her life, which begs the question - why choose her for this series? I've very much enjoyed a number of others in this collection, but why not write about Curie or Lovelace or Franklin or someone else where you can really flesh out the biography aspect?
bill_desmedt's review against another edition
5.0
The story of the undersung woman who discovered Cepheid variable stars -- and expanded our universe!
kellynallyse's review
3.0
I picked up this book in order to do some research on Miss Leavitt for dramaturg work for the play Silent Sky (which is fantastic and if you love space, theatre, or both please go read).
It starts off very with a chapter-long parable about assumptions which set the tone for the book. It is written very conversationally which is enjoyable, but feels like it was likely written for an astronomer audience. Many terms were glossed over and it would go into tangents about the math that I would have to reread a few times to understand.
For the title having Henrietta Leavitt's name in it, there isn't much about her overall. This is most likely because there isn't much information about her recorded, but you spend a good chunk of the book reading about other discoveries that happened because of Henrietta's discovery, not about the woman herself.
It starts off very with a chapter-long parable about assumptions which set the tone for the book. It is written very conversationally which is enjoyable, but feels like it was likely written for an astronomer audience. Many terms were glossed over and it would go into tangents about the math that I would have to reread a few times to understand.
For the title having Henrietta Leavitt's name in it, there isn't much about her overall. This is most likely because there isn't much information about her recorded, but you spend a good chunk of the book reading about other discoveries that happened because of Henrietta's discovery, not about the woman herself.
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