Nina Mikhailovna Subbotin (1877-1961) can rightfully be called Stephen Hawking of Russian science. One of the first Russian women astronomers, she received a professional education, but could not work in a scientific institution due to a serious illness suffered in childhood. Having created her own observatory, Subbotina was successfully engaged in observational astronomy and the study of solar-terrestrial relations. Her observations were regularly published in the most prestigious international astronomical journals. But her range of interests was much wider. She became the first woman in Russia to write a book on the history of astronomy ("The History of Halley's Comet"), awarded the prize of the Russian Astronomical Society.