Read the article titled Science and Society. Describe Henrietta Leavitt’s discovery, and explain why it was so important in the society in which she lived.

Answer:

In the early 1900s, women were not expected to have careers in science. While cataloging photos of stars, Henrietta Leavitt discovered that the length of time between the brightest and dimmest points of variable stars is related to their overall brightness. This allowed astronomers to measure the size of galaxies and demonstrate that the universe is expanding.