History Book Festival to host Dava Sobel Dec. 6
The History Book Festival is partnering with the Lewes Public Library to host author Dava Sobel at 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 6.
Members of the public are invited to attend the free event. Sobel will speak about her most recent book, “The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars.”
Copies of this little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy will be for sale before and after her presentation, and Sobel will sign books.
In the mid-19th century, the Harvard College observatory began employing women as calculators, or human computers, to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset, this group included the wives, sisters and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges – Vassar, Wellesley and Smith.
As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades – through the generous support of Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography – enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight.
This event is made possible by the History Book Festival. The 2018 event attracted 1,500 visitors who enjoyed a mix of author presentations, interviews and meet-and-greets with 21 best-selling authors and notable moderators. The 2019 festival is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28, in Lewes. As before, the authors’ presentations will bring the past alive, give attendees new perspectives on the past and present, and leave them enriched and inspired.
For more information, go to www.lewes.lib.de.us and www.historybookfestival.org.
