Laura Alary is the author of the new children's picture book biography The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne: Discovering the Stuff of Stars. Her other books include The Astronomer Who Questioned Everything. She lives in Toronto.
Q: Why did you decide to write a children’s picture book biography about astronomer Cecilia Payne (1900-1979)?
A: I tend to write about what intrigues me and what I would have enjoyed as a child. The fact that Cecilia Payne figured out what stars are made of by decoding hidden patterns in starlight appealed to the detective in me.
As I read more about her, I also became fascinated by Cecilia as a person: her childhood, her interests, her family, and her path to becoming an astronomer. I liked her broad and deep curiosity, her thoroughness, and her commitment to her work, even when it was hard.
Despite the huge contributions she made to our understanding of the universe, Cecilia Payne was unknown to me until I was well into adulthood. So another reason I wanted to write about Cecilia was to give children a chance to learn about her much sooner than I did! I hope her story will fuel their curiosity.
Q: How did you research her life, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I began by reading Cecilia’s autobiography to get a sense of how she saw her own life and work. Then I moved on to biographies, especially What Stars Are Made Of by Donovan Moore (Harvard University Press, 2020).
I also read books about the social, scientific, and cultural world in which Cecilia lived. The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel (Penguin, 2017) was invaluable in giving me a picture of what was happening at the Harvard Observatory before and during Cecilia’s time.
I particularly enjoyed learning about the Harvard Computers, the women who did the detailed and laborious work of classifying stars by their spectra. Without the expertise of women like Mina Fleming and Annie Jump Cannon, Cecilia could not have made her astonishing discovery about the chemical composition of the stars.
One thing that surprised me about Cecilia Payne were how wide-ranging her interests and talents were. She read many languages and her music teacher (Gustav Holst, no less) once encouraged her to consider a career in music.
I like uncovering connections between people, so another fun surprise was learning that there is a link between Cecilia Payne and Maria Mitchell, the subject of my other picture book biography, The Astronomer Who Questioned Everything (Kids Can Press, 2022).
One of Maria Mitchell’s students at Vassar was Antonia Maury, the niece of Henry and Anna Draper, who took the first photograph of the spectrum of a star, and whose work eventually formed the core of the collection of astronomical photographs at the Harvard Observatory.
Antonia Maury went on to work at the Harvard Observatory and became a friend and colleague of Cecilia Payne.
Q: What do you think Yas Imamura’s illustrations add to the book?
A: Yas has created illustrations that are beautiful and memorable in their own right, but they also add so much vitality to the story.
A picture book set in the past can be hard for kids to visualize; the illustrations help bring that historical setting to life. They show us ordinary details like what people wore, but also answer questions specific to the story such as, “What did those photographs of starlight actually look like?”
Yas also interpreted the story through the illustrations. For instance, when 8-year-old Cecilia is out exploring and finds a Bee Orchid, and her mother questions whether she really saw it, the flower becomes a symbol of Cecilia’s confidence in herself and her own powers of observation.
But later, when she temporarily loses that confidence, we see the petals dropping from the flower. It’s a powerful image.
There is so much in Cecilia Payne’s story that is invisible to the eye, like the insides of atoms and the atmospheres of stars. Through her illustrations, Yas helps readers imagine these things, so they’re not just vague concepts or words on a page.
Q: What do you see as Cecilia Payne’s legacy today?
A: I would say her legacy is both social and scientific. She changed the way we see the universe—and women in science.
Throughout her career, Cecilia faced a lot of obstacles and disappointments because of her gender. In spite of this, she persisted and continued to teach courses, do research, write papers, and contribute original work in astrophysics.
Decades after graduating with her Ph.D. she was finally made a full professor, and soon after that became the first woman at Harvard to chair a department. She helped change perceptions of what women are capable of, especially in the sciences, and also inspired a lot of other women.
Scientifically, Cecilia Payne applied quantum mechanics to astronomy in a new way and helped demonstrate what a powerful combination physics and astronomy can be. This contributed to the development of a new field of study: astrophysics.
Her insight into the chemical composition of stars also led to further questions and research into why hydrogen and helium are so abundant in our universe, and those questions led to new theories about how the cosmos began. Much of what we know about what the universe is made of and how it began can be traced back to Cecilia Payne!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have two more books coming out in 2026. Around the Circle (Beaming Books), is a journey through the liturgical year for young children and will be published in July. It has enchanting illustrations by Claire Westwood.
The other book, which has not yet been announced but which will available in the fall, is a story about friendship and communication, set in Newfoundland in 1901 against the backdrop of a significant historical event.
I’m also revising a few more picture book biographies and one or two STEM-based stories. One of the joys of writing picture books is being free to explore so many different topics!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: If you’d like to keep up to date on my new books, the best way is to follow me on IG (@laura.alary), check out my website (lauraalary.ca), or sign up for my newsletter, Margin Notes (form is on the website). Thanks for the opportunity to share my book!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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