archives and meeting an astronomer there, a well-known astronomer and he said you've got to read dava sobel book. sharon. >> sure enough you got to read me. >> on was celia payne's student who is at harvard now and was one of her phd students. it's an incredible lenience. it's hidden in plain view. everyone knew there were women there but not actually understand the full impact of what they were doing. >> i've had women at harvard say to me they knew that there had been women working there but they always thought it was some kind of cute, quaint story. they didn't realize they were doing science. >> this is interesting as a scientist and being educated as a scientist. i didn't know the story to leah brought it to my attention. i had heard of pickering and i had this silly version which is amusing but it wasn't until leo's work that i became interested in started to learn about this. i think it's interesting about the education and why can't we be educated in parallel a scientist and its historians or as writers and you have the bigger picture at all times. there's something were not doing i

tonight booktv is in prime time with a look at nasa and space exploration, and we start with author dava sobel and her book, " the glass universe." and then from the tucson festival of books, ney that would ya holt discusses "rise of the rocket girls: the women who propelled us from missiles to the moon to mars." margot lee shetterly recalls a group of african-american women who played key roles in the devising of air rah naughtics -- arrow aeronautics. and astronomy professor chris empy talks about his book, "beyond." booktv in prime time tonight starting at eight eastern. >> the los angeles times has been putting on the festival of books for more than 20 years, and it has become an institution that's part of the community. and if, and it's a way that we can celebrate with the readers of the paper and with the city as a whole the very notion of reading. and today when the idea of there being something called fake news is out there, i think that books help us celebrate the way that words and facts are grounded in storytelling and in history. >> watch our live coverage of the los angeles times