Playwright Stella Feehily and actor Maureen Beattie spoke to Anita Rani on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour about Hampstead’s latest new play The Lightest Element and the pioneering astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

British-born Cecilia was the first person to work out what stars are made of. Her PhD thesos was described as “the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy.” But Cecilia struggled to receive the acclaim she deserved and had to fight the dominated scientific-establishment for recognition before eventually becoming the first female Chair of Astronomy at Harvard.

Listen back to the interview on BBC Sounds (starts 46:57) via the link below.

The Lightest Element plays the Main Stage until 12 October.

 

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE

BOOK THE LIGHTEST ELEMENT HERE