New Zealand's Unknown Genius

The book Bright Star by Cristine Cole Catley was instrumental in the research for this video.

Editing by Noor Hanania

[gerrytoft]

My grandma flatted with Beatrice Tinsley at university! Apparently she woke up every morning at like 5am, cooked breakfast, and then started studying. So definitely hard-working as well as a genius.

[liecfgh]

Thank you very much for paying tribute to this great scientist, who deserves far more recognition.

[McMurdoStation]

Thank you for this wonderful story about Beatrice Tinsley. I had the good fortune to meet her at a Symposium she gave at Haverford College in early 1981. I attended with Sarah Lippincott, the Director of Sproul Observatory at nearby Swarthmore College. It seemed just a few weeks later that Sarah told me of Beatrice's death. I remember clearly my shock and sadness. Something about Beatrice touched me and I contribute to the Beatrice Tinsley Prize awarded by the A.A.S. Just 18 months later I traveled through Christchurch on the way to the Antarctic; I didn't realize then the connection Beatrice had with Christchurch.

[sapnick]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I live near the University of Canterbury, and hearing about the amazing woman makes me very proud to be a Kiwi.

[adampomata]

Just astounding. Thx for shinning light on Beatrice and her story. Remarkable.

[darius_defiant]

I don't think I've ever heard of this woman, thank you very much for sharing her story! She definitely deserves to be known.

[quasarsphere]

Christine Cole Catley, and her husband Doug Catley (after whom I was named), were very close friends of my parents. When I was a kid, we'd sometimes go and stay with them at Cape Catley in what was then a very remote part of the Marlborough Sounds. So remote that all the houses (none of which could be seen from any of the others) were all on a party line. One of the last in the country. The Catleys were very interesting and awesome people! :)

I'm pretty sure my mum has a signed copy of Bright Star.

[bashmahs]

What a bright mind she was. Thank You!

[paulaxford]

Thanks for the interesting video on Beatrice Tinsley. Her name has been mentioned many times in our family. My late father Ian, also a Canterbury graduate, was also a noted NZ astronomer and physicist, and even has a mountain named after him in the same range as Tinsley.

[rayhughes]

Happy to report I found Bright Star at a Devonport second hand bookseller years ago and read about Beatrice then - thanks for making this a little more public - she deserves to be better known!!

[ianmacfarlane]

An inspiring story about a remarkable woman - incredibly sad how her life was cut so short.
Beautiful scenery throughout the video too.
A joy to watch.

[cyclonasaurusrex]

Lovely. Vera’s quote can be rephrased in a larger context: There is no telling how much more we might have learned if we had allowed women to participate fully in all human endeavors.

[flipnap]

Enlightening. Thank you for bringing us this story. just amazing

[esslar]

What a woman and scientist Beatrice Tinsley was. This was wonderful and I was glad to hear that there are plans to make a film from the biography as that thought crossed my mind, too, after hearing about her remarkable life!

[psychotropicalresearch]

What a pleasant and clear speaking voice, you have — something that seems less common in younger people, to older people like me!

[reteipdevries]

Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley (27 January 1941 – 23 March 1981) was a British-born New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist, and the first female professor of astronomy at Yale University, whose research made fundamental contributions to the astronomical understanding of how galaxies evolve, grow and die. (Wiki) Beatrice is not mentioned in writing in this video, so you will not find it if you search for her in youtube. as of june 6 2024.

[rosswoodskiwi]

Thanks so much for this!
I'm a kiwi scientist from Christchurch who lives on the other side of the world, so this story had a nice connection for me. And tomorrow I'm going back for a visit, and I'll go walking around Tekapo too! You captured the scenery so well!!

[frankcellini]

What an outstanding human being… we need more of these people in the world. Thank you for sharing.

[hellswrth]

Tinsley is remembered by UC alongside other greats associated with the uni (Rutherford, Popper, Erskine etc) by having a building named after her. What an incredible mind. I’ve almost finished my own PhD at UC, and occasionally look to those figures for inspiration to get to the finish line.

[petesime]

In 2022, NZ Post issued a series of stamps called "Women in Science." Beatrice features on the $3.80 stamp. The scientists on the other stamps are botanist Lucy Moore ($1.70), paleontologist Joan Wiffen ($3.00) and ethnographer Makereti Papakura ($4.30).