“1777 Variables in the Magellanic Clouds”

LEAVITT, Henrietta Swan (1868–1921). “1777 variables in the Magellanic Clouds”. Offprint from: Annals of Harvard College Observatory , vol. 60, no. 4. 1908. Rare first printing of Leavitt’s law. Leavitt “worked with E. C. Pickering at Harvard College Observatory, measuring the brightness of stars on photographic plates. From her studies of Cepheid variables in the Small Magellanic Cloud, she established the period–luminosity relation (now also known as the Leavitt law) in 1912. In all, Leavitt discovered 2400 variable stars, more than half the total known in her lifetime.” (Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy). Leavitt was recommended to the Swedish Academy of Sciences as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in 1924, but the nomination was rejected as Leavitt had died of cancer three years earlier. Quarto (300 x 248mm). Two plates (first blank and second plate detached, final text leaf and first plate starting, marginal chip in first blank, light marginal spotting). Stich-bound.

Estimate:$2,500

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