The New Yorker profiled Brother Guy Consolmagno, the “Pope’s Astronomer,” but left out a key part of the story: his early mentor was Mildred Shapley Matthews, daughter of Harlow Shapley. Their collaboration shaped his first scientific publications and tied his career to the Shapley family’s wider legacy in astronomy.
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.