At the center of Silent Sky is the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, a passionate and inquisitive computer at the turn of the 20th Century. She trades the comforts of home for a job at the Harvard observatory, though as a woman, she is not allowed to so much as touch a telescope. Staying long after hours to pursue her own work she discovers a technique that makes it possible to measure the distance to stars by the pulsating light. Astounding truths cascade from this single shocking discovery, upending her colleagues view of themselves, each other, and the universe itself.