Attention is Discovery

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921) spent decades studying glass plate photographs and especially variable stars, which ultimately led to her understanding the sheer scale of the universe and how to go about measuring it. This comprehensive and beautifully illustrated book places an emphasis on the power of looking. Leavitt worked with a number of other women at the Harvard Observatory, and would have been nominated for the Nobel Prize but for her premature death. Just seeing the detail in her notebooks is a revelation – the book will be of special interest to those with a serious interest in astronomy and cosmology.