Our Island Universe

Our Island Universe: Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Reviewing her data collected from the previous night, a young PhD student found a puzzling source. She discovered a repeating signal of pulses that consistenlty arrived 1 and third second apart, just like clockwork! Annoyed that perhaps aliens were trying to contact her, Jocelyn Bell Burnell labeled the source LGM-1: Little Green Man-1. Was it a radio signal from ET? What was the source she had serendipitously discovered?! #WomensHistory

Our Island Universe: Henrietta Swan Leavitt

On a dark, moonless night, far away from city lights, you can look up to see thousands of stars glittering against the blackness of space. How did we ever figure out how far away the stars are? Harvard “computer” Henrietta Swan Leavitt solved the riddle of distance in astronomy. Her discovery ushered in the expanding universe and the stunning realization that our Milky Way Galaxy is literally one of trillions in the cosmos! #WomensHistory

Our Island Universe: Celia Payne

Wood. Oil. Gas. Maybe fire is a fundamental element of nature as the Greeks thought? When did we finally figure out what stars are actually made up of and who made that ground-breaking discovery? Celia Payne’s 1925 doctoral thesis at Harvard provided the key insight that would later be described as “ the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy. ” #WomensHistory

Our Island Universe: Katherine Johnson

Setting foot on the Moon was an enormous engineering & scientific accomplishment. We’d finally dip our toes in the ocean of space that awaits us to explore. How we got there involves many #HiddenFigures who were instrumental to this story. One such person is Katherine Johnson who was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia. #WomensHistory

Our Island Universe: Dr. Mae Jemison

Who was the first African-American woman in space? Dancer. Chemical engineer. Medical doctor. Dr. Mae Jemison became the 1st African-American woman in space when the space shuttle Endeavour launched on September 12, 1992.