April 1942.

Heavenly Veil "Study of the composition of the interstellar medium calls for powerful instrumental equipment, because the interstellar lines are to be observed only on a background of the spectra of distant stars....

"Dr. Joel Stebbins [reported] his photoelectric measures of the irregularly distributed absorbing clouds in the galactic plane. These data have given a final answer to the question of whether the quality of the absorption (in its effect on light of different colors) is different in different parts of the sky. It is the same everywhere."

Joel Stebbins, then director of Washburn Observatory, pioneered the use of photoelectric devices in astronomy. Here, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin reported highlights from a conference at Mexico's Tonantzintla Observatory, soon to play its own key role in the photoelectric photometry of bright stars.