On my trip to Pasadena CA I learned how Harlow Shapley as a young astronomer in 1918 discovered our true place in the galaxy – a giant breakthrough in science. I followed his process, from the massive 60-inch telescope atop Mount Wilson down to the vault below to the original glass plates on which he captured telltale specks of starlight. My trip focused on his early career: archival research brought surprises. I found something else: that Shapley’s passion for sharing science widely continues with the American Astronomical Society’s Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectures Program. 

I'm delighted to go to California for the AAS 248 meeting and also do needed archival research. In this update, I report on a new grant, an exciting new home for Harlow Shapley Project content, and previews of two forthcoming posts.

Here are selected slides from my presentation at the American Astronomical Society’s 247th meeting (#AAS247) on January 5, 2026. I told the story of Harlow Shapley’s public defiance when right-wing politicians tried to discredit scientists, artists, teachers, and other citizens through accusation without due process.

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.