Henrietta Swan Leavitt
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Henrietta Swan Leavitt was an American astronomer. Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast distances to remote galaxies led to a shift in the scale and understanding of the scale and the nature of the universe. Nomination of Leavitt for the Nobel Prize had to be halted because of her death.
The observatory at Harvard where Henrietta Swan Leavitt worked
Henrietta Leavitt (third from left) is shown working among "The Harvard Computers" who assisted astronomer Edward Charles Pickering at the Harvard College Observatory. The assistants also included Annie Jump Cannon, Williamina Fleming, and Antonia Maury.
Leavitt working at her desk in the Harvard College Observatory
Harvard College Observatory
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The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, and was founded in 1839. With the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, it forms part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
