Miss Leavitt found that the rate depends on the star's total light output (luminous Cepheids pulse more slowly than feeble ones) a discovery that allows them to be used for cosmic surveying.
The quest to discover more about his father provides the action for Camus's luminous autobiographical novel, "The First Man, " the incomplete manuscript of which was found in the wreckage of Gallimard's Facel Vega automobile.