Harvard University Clock Tower - the school at which Leavitt did her research.
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Courtesy of Corel Photography

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born in Massachusetts in 1868. She became interested in astronomy in college.

Henrietta started working at Harvard's Observatory for 30 cents an hour. Would you like to work as an astronomer?

Henrietta Leavitt made a very important discovery. She discovered a certain type of star called a Cepheid variable.

She died of cancer at age fifty-three. Henrietta Leavitt had a crater of the moon named after her because of all of the important work she did in astronomy.

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