Astronomer Biography

Harlow Shapley

Born on a farm in Nashville, Missouri on November 2, 1885, Harlow Shapley began school and shortly thereafter dropped out with the equivalent of a fifth grade education, but he still managed to become one of the greatest American astronomers ever. He studied at home while covering crime stories as a newspaper reporter. When he later returned to school to complete a six-year high school program, he ended up finishing in only two years and graduated as class valedictorian.

In 1907, Shapley was 22 and went to study journalism at the University of Missouri. When he found out that the School of Journalism would not be opening for another year, he chose to study the first subject he found in the course directory. He rejected archaeology and chose the next subject, Astronomy. (He did not chose Archaeology, we later found out, because he could not pronounce it.)

After graduation, Shapley began studying with a fellowship at Princeton University for graduate work. He studied under Henry Norris Russell and used the period-luminosity chart relation for Cepheid variable stars to determine the distances to globular clusters. He was the first to realize that the Milky Way Galaxy was much larger than earlier believed, and that the Sun was actually located in a nondescript part of the galaxy.

He later participated in the “Great Debate” with Heber Curtis on the nature of nebulas, galaxies, and the size of the Universe. This debate took place on April 26, 1920. Shapley argued against the theory that the Sun was at the center of the galaxy, and promoted that the globular clusters and spiral galaxies were within the Milky Way. We later found out that he was correct about the former and incorrect about the latter.

When the debate took place, Shapley was working at the Mount Wilson Observatory, being hired by George Ellery Hale. And after the debate, he was hired to replace the recently deceased Edward Charles Pickering as director of the Harvard College Observatory. He served as director of the HCO from 1921 to 1952. During this time, he hired Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who became the first person to earn a doctorate at Harvard University in the field of Astronomy.

In the 1940’s Shapley helped found government funded scientific associations, including the National Science Foundation. He is also responsible for the addition of the “S” in UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization).

Throughout his life, Shapley earned many honors and awards. The Henry Draper Medal in 1926. The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1934. The Bruce Medal in 1939. The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship in 1950. He also had many things named after him. Shapley crater on the Moon. Asteroid 1123 Shapleya. Shapley Supercluster. Shapley later died on October 20, 1972.

Works Cited

Copal, Z. "Harlow Shapley." "Great Debate:" Obituary of Harlow Shapley. 1972. 19 May 2008 .
"Harlow Shapley." The Internet Encyclopedia of Science. 19 May 2008 .