Conversation:

It strikes me that every time I read an astronomy book I come across two names, Jocelyn Bell and Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Neither of whom seem to have been officially credited at the time for their contribution to the advancement of science. Without Henrietta's insight into the the connection between variable star's periodicity and their brightness, Mr Hubble's work on inter-gallactic measurement would have taken a lot longer. Similarily Jocelyn pored over yards and yards of recorder chart trace with such dilligence that she found among all the background 'noise' the first clue to Quasars. It seems that at least 'Astronomy publishing' feels a litle guilty about the rather shabby way they were treated and does at least try not to let their names fade away.