Shakuntala Devi counts her blessings
The ‘human computer’ had a variety of interests.
Shakuntala Devi turned a remarkable talent into a remarkable career. Credit: Hetvee S Patel, via Wikimedia Commons
Think of the boxy grey desktop computer that sat on your desk, or the massive grey tower computer under your desk, or the lightweight shiny tablet computer in your handbag, or even the smartphone computer in the palm of your hand.
Now, consider Scottish-born Williamina Paton Fleming, who in the late 1800s was credited, according to
Harvard Magazine, with discovering “10 novae, 59 gaseous nebulae, more than 300 variable stars, and the Horsehead Nebula in Orion”, along with recognising “the existence of hot, Earth-sized stars later dubbed white dwarfs”.