Harlow Shapley was an American astronomer born in 1885 who made several groundbreaking discoveries about the size and structure of the Milky Way galaxy. He determined that the Milky Way was much larger than previously believed, with a diameter of nearly 300,000 light years and the Sun located near the edge. Shapley also studied globular clusters and established their strong concentration toward the constellation of Sagittarius, helping to map the structure of the Milky Way. He had a famous debate in 1920 with Heber Curtis about whether spiral nebulae were independent galaxies or within the Milky Way.

1. HARLOW SHAPLEY
Born: 2-Nov-1885
Birthplace: Nashville, MO
Died: 20-Oct-1972
Location of death: Boulder, CO
Cause of death: Heart Failure
By: April Fernandez

2. Shapley's’ Family:
His Wife, One duaghter and four sons.
Wife: Martha Betz Shapley (astronomer, b. 1890, d. 1981)
Daughter: Mildred Shapley Matthews (author-astronomer)
Son: Alan Shapley (geophysicist, b. 1919, d. 2006)
Son: Lloyd Shapley (mathematician, b. 1923)
Son: Willis Shapley (NASA official, b. 1917, d. 2005)
Son: Carl Shapley (founded New World Educational
Foundation)

3. H A R LOW S H A P L E Y W A S B O R N N OV E M B E R 2 ,
1 8 8 5 , TO PA R E N T S , W I L L I S A N D S A R A H
S H A P L E Y O N A FA R M I N N A S H V I L L E ,
M I S S O U R I .
D I E D : O C TO B E R 2 0 , 1 9 7 2 ( AG E D 8 6 )
B O U L D E R , C O LO R A D O
Discovered: Milky Way Galaxy
exponentially larger than
previously believed.
HE Focus on globular clusters:
gigantic spheroidal agglomerations of stars that orbit
the Milky Way

4. B E F O R E , T H E M I L K Y W A Y W A S B E L I E V E D T O H A V E A
D I A M E T E R O F 1 5 - 2 0 , 0 0 0 L I G H T Y E A R S .
S H A P L E Y D E T E R M I N E D T H A T I T S D I A M E T E R W A S , I N
F A C T , N E A R L Y 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 L I G H T Y E A R S W I T H T H E S U N
L O C A T E D N E A R T H E E D G E .

5. Finding the structure
In 1918 Harlow Shapley estimated the
distances to 93 globular clusters. He found a
strong concentration of globular clusters in
the direction of Sagittarius.

6. “THE GREAT DEBATE”
DATE: APRIL 26TH, 1920
P LA YERS: H EB ER D. C URTIS VS. H A RLOW SH A P LEY
LOCATION: NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN
WASHINGTON
C ONTROVERSY: TH E NA TURE OF SP IRA L NEB ULA E
AND GALAXIES; THE SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE
SH A PLEY (LEFT) : A RG UED THA T THE SUN NOT A T
CENTER OF GALAXY
GLOBULAR CLUSTERS AND SPIRAL
NEBULAE ARE WITHIN THE MILKY WAY
C URTIS (RIG H T) : RA TH ER TH A N: SUN NEA R TH E
C ENTER OF OUR G A LA XY
B ELIEF IN ‘EXTERNA L UNIVERSES’ OR
THE ISLAND UNIVERSE HYPOTHESIS

7. Shapley did not differentiate
himself only in research.
Soon the world and not only
the astronomers, learned to
know him as an outstanding
lecturer and successful
writer. In 1920 Shapley was
offered directorship of the
Harvard College Observatory,
when the latter fell vacant on
the death of E. C. Pickering
(1846-1919). Shapley
accepted; and this
observatory was to remain
his academic home for the

8. WANT TO KNOW
SOMETHING
FUNNY?
Shapley’s famed interest:
myrmecology (otherwise known as
the study of ants)