Who Really Won the 'Great Debate'?

Who Really Won the 'Great Debate'?

Drawing on one of the most famous debates in scientific history, Deborah Shapley poses the question whether head-to-head conflict is a model that benefits science. She offers a wider version of the story of her grandfather Harlow Shapley’s loss after 1920 debate with Heber Curtis, at which Shapley argued “island universes” were located inside our Milky Way Galaxy. But in the 1920s when Edwin Hubble sent him evidence these “nebulae” were way beyond our galaxy, Shapley pivoted to the view he had opposed. For decades afterward, Shapley pushed scientific work on galaxy distribution and spread public knowledge of this unfolding universe.

Bang! Goes The Universe: Martha Shapley - Mount Wilson Astronomer

Martha Betz Shapley (1890 - 1981) was the wife of Harlow Shapley (1885 - 1972). Deborah Shapley, a granddaughter of Martha and Harlow, recently spoke with Ron Voller on his podcast Bang! Goes the Universe.

Martha Shapley - Astronomer

Martha Betz Shapley was known as First Lady of the Harvard College Observatory during the 32 years her husband Harlow was its Director. “The friendship and hospitality she extended to members of the Harvard astronomical family…was one of the highest experiences of my younger days,” wrote Leo Goldberg on her death in 1981.

Harlow Shapley - Unlikely Liberal

Harlow Shapley was very famous as a scientist. He located the center of the Milky Way galaxy, finding that our solar system is far from the Galactic Center. As Director from 1921 to 1953, Shapley built the Harvard College Observatory into the foremost US graduate school in astronomy and “a mecca” for astronomers from around the world. From 1953 Shapley published that life in the universe would arise on planets in “the liquid water belt” distance from their stars. This standard is applied in the search for extraterrestrial life today.