If you've been to see 'Hidden Figures' the film about the women 'computers' in early NASA days this book is the true history of women 'computers' involved in early astronomy.
They evaluated the millions of glass plates and multi-millions of stars thereon and created the first categorisations of star types, spectro images and all the base information we now take for granted.
It details the many female sponsors, unpaid workers and the male astronomers of the time that fought to recognise them as true researchers and colleagues in the building of the huge data base.
Other interesting areas were the arguments about galaxies as separate 'islands' and the understanding of the vast distances as they explored the cosmos.
Although not a dramatized account like 'Hidden Figures' was and full of facts and figures it was an interesting read to get some background on the early (1800's ) till recent input women had into the field. The added 'chapter' of information at the back details much of the background data behind many of the people involved at the time.
Definitely worth a read..
