For reals 😕
"A servant is not a thief, your Highness. And those who are cannot help themselves.
If you...suffer your people to be illeducated and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, Sire, but that you first make thieves, and then punish them?"
QUOTED BY Drew Barrymore as Danielle De Barbarac 𝓔𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓐𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓻 1998
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust
Since her death in 1979, the woman who unveiled the fundamental composition of the universe has remained largely unrecognized. Her legacy is marked only by a commemorative plaque on a university wall, with her groundbreaking discovery scarcely mentioned in her obituary. Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, Charles Darwin explained evolution, and Albert Einstein formulated the theory of relativity. Yet, when it comes to the composition of the universe, textbooks merely state that hydrogen is the most abundant atom, without acknowledging the person behind this crucial discovery. That person was Cecilia Payne.
Cecilia Payne authored what is considered one of the most brilliant doctoral theses ever written in the field of astronomy. Ironically, her journey in science began with opposition from her own mother, who deemed it a waste of money for a woman to pursue higher education. Undeterred, Payne earned a scholarship to Cambridge, where she completed her studies. However, because she was a woman, Cambridge refused to grant her a degree. Determined to continue her work, she moved to the United States and joined Harvard, where she became the first person to earn a doctorate in astronomy from Radcliffe College. Otto Strauve, a respected astronomer, described her thesis as "the most brilliant doctoral thesis ever written in astronomy."
Cecilia Payne not only discovered the composition of the sun but also laid the foundation for the study of variable stars. Her contributions to astronomy were monumental, yet she is not celebrated with the respect and recognition she deserves. She was the first woman to be promoted to professor at Harvard, a remarkable achievement that, even today, is often overlooked.
This brief text serves as a tribute to Cecilia Payne, the woman who discovered what stars are made of, and whose legacy should be remembered with the honor and respect befitting her contributions to science.
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