 cecilia helena payne-gaposchkin (may 10, 1900 &ndash; december 7, 1979) was a britishâamerican astronomer and astrophysicist who, in 1925, proposed in her ph.d. thesis an explanation for the composition of stars in terms of the relative abundances of hydrogen and helium. ==early life== cecilia helena payne was one of three children born in wendover, england, to emma leonora helena (nÃ©e pertz) and edward john payne, a london barrister, historian and accomplished musician. her mother came from a prussian family and had two distinguished uncles, historian georg heinrich pertz and the swedenborgian writer james john garth wilkinson.  cecilia payne's father died when she was four years old, forcing her mother to raise the family on her own. she attended st paul's girls' school. in 1919, she won a scholarship to newnham college, cambridge university, where she read botany, physics, and chemistry. here
1900_births 1979_deaths Alumni_of_Newnham_College,_Cambridge American_Unitarians American_agnostics American_astronomers English_astronomers Fellows_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences Harvard_University_alumni Harvard_University_faculty People_educated_at_St_Paul\'s_Girls\'_School People_from_Lexington,_Massachusetts People_from_Wendover People_of_Prussian_descent Radcliffe_College_alumni Recipients_of_the_Annie_J._Cannon_Award_in_Astronomy Women_astronomers