Google doodle on Saturday celebrated the life of Italian professor, activist, author, and astrophysicist Margherita Hack on her 99th birth anniversary. Hack, who earned the moniker of “The Lady of the Stars”, was born in Florence on this day in 1922.
Hack championed civil rights as an outspoken advocate for progressive causes, animal protection, and equality for all. Her interest in satellites, asteroids, and the evolution of stellar atmospheres was extraordinary.
She took just one university class in literature before switching her major to physics. Following the 1945 defense of her thesis on Cepheid variables (stars used to measure intergalactic distances), Hack applied her knowledge of stellar spectroscopy as an astronomer at Florence’s Astronomical Observatory of Arcetri.
In 1964, Hack moved to Trieste, where she made history not just as the first Italian woman to earn a full professorship at the city’s university but also as the first female director of the Trieste…
