Name the principal figures in astronomy, and Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Giovanni Cassini, and Edmond Halley will be mentioned, but such a list omits the women who have made an enormous contribution to the field.
However the Galway Astronomy Club will set to rectify this with a public talk examining such astronomers as Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Cecelia Payne Gaposhkin, Tabitha Boyajian, and Carolyn Porco.
The talk, which will be the first event of the club’s new season, will be given by Derek Dempsey, a founder member of Newport Astronomy Club, and a graduate from the UCD School of Engineering. “Until relatively recently, barriers were placed in the paths of women who wished to pursue a career in astronomy,” hew says. “Those who pushed through this barrier had to fight exclusion and prejudice; nor were their achievements always properly recognised.”
The talk takes place in the Harbour Hotel on Monday September 3 at 7.30pm. Admission is €5. Yearly membership of the club is €25. See www.galwayastronomyclub.ie and Facebook.
