Harlow Shapley

Harlow Shapley (November 2 1885 – October 20 1972) was an American astronomer.

He studied under Henry Norris Russell and used the period-luminosity relation for Cepheid variable stars (discovered by Henrietta Swan Leavitt) to determine distances to globular clusters. He was the first to realize that the Milky Way Galaxy was much larger than previously believed.

He participated in the "Great Debate" with Heber D. Curtis on the nature of nebulas and galaxies and the size of the universe.

He served as director of Harvard College Observatory from 1921 to 1952.

Honors

• Henry Draper Medal in 1926
• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1934
• Bruce Medal in 1939
• Henry Norris Russell Lectureship in 1950

External links

• The Great Debate
• Transcript of the "Great Debate"