Victorian English house tied to leading astronomer selling for £1.295M

A Victorian English house tied to one of the most eminent women astronomers in history could make a fine gift for the avid star-gazer this holiday season.

The four-bedroom residence in Wendover, England, a town nestled in the Chiltern Hills, an hour west of London, was the childhood home of British-American astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

The large family home with its painted-stucco facade, period chimney stacks and walled garden hit the market late last month asking £1.295 million (US$1.705 million), according to listing records on Zoopla.

Payne-Gaposchkin is most well-known for establishing that stars were primarily made of helium and hydrogen, and that those elements were the most abundant in the universe—a finding so groundbreaking her peers initially rejected it.

In 1956, she was among the first women ever to be tenured at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Last month, a local science organization went before Wendover Parish Council to ask that an official plaque be erected “recognizing her birthplace and achievements” on her childhood home, known locally as Holywell Lodge.

The council agreed to fund nearly half of the effort by pitching in about £240, according to the minutes from the November meeting.

The scientist was born at Holywell in 1900 and lived there for 12 years, a time she would look back on fondly for the rest of her life, according to “Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections,” published posthumously in 1984.

Ref: Property Report