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stories of women in astronomy has to be that of Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel. She was born
in 1750, and had a number of childhood diseases which where to affect her in later life. She was left scarred
and disfigured by Smallpox and was very short in stature due to Typhus. Her family wrote her off, told her she
would never marry and planned for to become their maid. Her brother William came to her rescue. First of all,
he taught her how to sing, but more importantly, he took her on as his assistant when he began working in
astronomy. She flourished in this role and became the first woman to discover a comet. She went on to discover more comets and nebulae, and have her own star charts published. She is one of the few early women
astronomers who have had their lives very well documented.3 Another famous “forgotten” female astronomer and astrophysicist was Cecilia Payne, who in 1925 made one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the 20th Century.4 Using her thorough understanding of quantum theory, she calculated that 90% of
the Sun comprised of hydrogen. At the time, this finding was highly controversial because most astronomers
believed that the Sun was made of iron. Her supervisor, Henry Norris Russell, claimed her result was “spur