The Discover of the Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relationship

Henrietta Leavitt was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of a Congregational minister. She attended Oberlin College and the Society for Collegiate Instruction of Women (later Radcliffe College). As a senior in 1892, Leavitt discovered astronomy. After graduation she took another course in it, but then spent several years at home when she suffered a serious illness that left her severely deaf.

She retained her interest in astronomy and volunteered at the Harvard College Observatory in 1895. Seven years later she was appointed to the permanent staff (at a salary of 30 cents an hour) by director Charles Pickering.