Cecilia Payne correctly identified that the Sun and other stars are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.

In 1925, 24-year-old graduate student Cecilia Payne calculated that the Sun and other stars were composed overwhelmingly of hydrogen and helium —a result so contrary to accepted astronomy that senior astronomer Henry Norris Russell called it “clearly impossible,” leading her to write in her thesis that the enormous abundances she had derived were “almost certainly not real.” Four years later, Russell reached the same conclusion by another method In 1976, the American Astronomical Society awarded her the Henry Norris Russell Prize. In her acceptance lecture, she said, “The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first person in the history of the world to see something or to understand something." https://spacedaily.com/t-cecilia-payne-russell-hydrogen-helium-companion/

In 1925, 24-year-old graduate student Cecilia Payne calculated that the Sun and other stars were composed overwhelmingly of hydrogen and helium—a result so contrary to accepted astronomy that senior astronomer Henry Norris Russell called it “clearly impossible,”.... By Deep Field · Edited by Lachlan Brown https://spacedaily.com/t-cecilia-payne-russell-hydrogen-helium-companion/ Stellar atmospheres at PG: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73996 #books #astrophysics #Womeninstem