'Nothing compares with being the first person in the history of the world to see something, but timing is everything.The world has to be ready for you.'Boston, 1956. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of the most eminent astronomers of the twentieth century, is about to be appointed Chair of Astronomy and the first woman to head a department at Harvard University.Only two things stand in her way: a covert investigation aimed at exposing her as a Communist sympathiser, and the entrenched conservatism of her male colleagues. When a student journalist asks to profile her, it feels like an opportunity to control her own narrative – assuming, of course, that the invitation is actually what it seems…Stella Feehily's play The Lightest Element is a taut drama exploring how a challenge to social norms can be almost as difficult as overturning scientific orthodoxy.It premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Alice Hamilton.