Silent Sky

Sponsored by: The Tallahassee Astronomical Society - tallystargazers.org
Silent Sky tells the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, the astronomer ahead of her time. It is 1900, and Henrietta has the opportunity to work at Harvard University as a human computer, for Dr. Edward Pickering, mapping the stars but receiving no scientific credit. Leavitt and her fellow female researchers – or “computers” – set the standard still used today for measuring distances in space while discovering thousands of stars.
Twenty years before women’s suffrage, the “computers” pursue their passion for astronomy in a society that limits women’s roles while credit for their discoveries are dismissed or claimed by male astronomers.
Silent Sky tells the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, the astronomer ahead of her time. It is 1900, and Henrietta has the opportunity to work at Harvard University as a human computer, for Dr. Edward Pickering, mapping the stars but receiving no scientific credit. Leavitt and her fellow female researchers – or “computers” – set the standard still used today for measuring distances in space while discovering thousands of stars.
Twenty years before women’s suffrage, the “computers” pursue their passion for astronomy in a society that limits women’s roles while credit for their discoveries are dismissed or claimed by male astronomers.