Cecilia's Centennial Conference

2025 marks the centennial of  Stellar Atmospheres , Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s groundbreaking PhD dissertation—the first astronomy PhD awarded by Harvard, and a foundational text in astrophysics.

For her research, Payne-Gaposchkin drew on more than forty years of glass plate astronomical data from the Harvard College Observatory. Her work built upon and was enabled by a pioneering group of women astronomers who created, studied, and preserved this glass plate collection, initially funded by Anna Palmer Draper.

Join the Harvard Plate Stacks at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian for a week-long symposium October 6-10, 2025 celebrating this centennial, while exploring the interdisciplinary histories and futures of analog astrophotography. This gathering brings together researchers, artists, and practitioners whose work engages with glass plate archives and the often-overlooked histories of those who created and sustained them—including women and historically marginalized communities in science.

Schedule and Call for Proposals

We invite submissions from a wide range of individuals whose work intersects with the symposium’s themes, including:

• Artistic practices inspired by astronomy and photographic archives
• The history of women and invisible labor in astronomy
• Scientific applications of historical datasets
• Glass plate photography, collection management, and conservation

We welcome abstracts from independent scholars and artists, students, and established professionals alike. The symposium is a space to present contemporary projects, explore complex archival histories, and imagine new research pathways in both science and the humanities. 

We are accepting proposals through June 30, 2025. Please visit the Conference Website for more information about the conference schedule and submitting a proposal.