SciShow

Great Minds: Henrietta Leavitt & the Human Computers (2012x195)

Air date: Dec 25, 2012

Henrietta Swan Leavitt was one of a number of volunteer women astronomers who were allowed to serve as "computers" at Harvard College Observatory, doing tedious work male scientists wouldn't do, and ultimately making a discovery now known as Leavitt's Law, which allows us to measure the distance to stars.