By Deborah Shapley, Editor and PI, Harlow Shapley Project
Harlow Shapley (1885-1972) was a giant of twentieth century astronomy. In 1918 he proved that our Milky Way galaxy was watch-shaped with a dense center in Sagittarius and our solar system near the edge. His displacement of Copernicus’ heliocentric universe was the foremost of many contributions in his five-decade career as an astronomer, institution-builder, outspoken liberal and prolific writer. He first worked as a reporter to pay for school in Missouri; later as a world-famous scientist, Shapley used his communications skills to inform many about science and become scientists themselves.
After his pathbreaking PhD at Princeton under Henry Norris Russell in 1914, Shapley moved to Mount Wilson Observatory in California. There he used the 60-inch world-beating telescope to map our galaxy. His remarkable result led to instant fame and to becoming Director of Harvard College Observatory. In 1921, he moved to the Director’s Residence with his wife Martha and their growing family. Martha Betz Shapley wrote several astronomical papers while they were in California; she is co-author on some of his key papers in this period.
Career at Harvard and Afterward
As Director of HCO (1921-1952) Shapley expanded its research and facilities. He founded the astronomy graduate school that has trained leaders in the field ever since. Shapley hired and advanced women; in this he was liberal by the standards of the day. From 1933, as Nazi power spread in Europe, Shapley worked to secure US university jobs so fleeing scholars and scientists could come here and keep contributing to knowledge. (His addition of foreign astronomers to HCO led one philanthropist to nickname it “the broken English observatory.”)
The Shapleys made the Director’s Residence a hub of observatory social and professional life. They hosted teas and parties where staff mingled with distinguished guests. They also played games, music and danced (the Virginia Reel was his favorite). Harlow and Martha were also engaged parents. He invented a fast-moving math card game “Hells Bells” that they played with the children.
Scientifically, Shapley led galaxy surveys that mapped larger structures clusters and voids out to the limits of observation then. He is called cosmographer of the Magellanic Clouds. From 1953 through the 1960s, Shapley defined the habitable zone for exoplanets. “The life phenomena is widespread and of cosmic significance. We are not alone,” he wrote in 1953. His larger message about the universe that he helped to discover was: “Man is not such a big chicken.”
Typical of his fame is the New York Times’ obituary starting on Page One on October 21, 1972: “Like the universe that Harlow Shapley explored, explained and loved, he evolved from a brilliant man dedicated to science to a brilliant scientist devoted to man.”
Yet in recent decades Shapley is often omitted in the literature of this epoch or glided over with handed-down slighting references. To mistakes in his 1918 discoveries. To “losing” the Great Debate of 1920 on external galaxies. For speculating in public about grave issues in science; actually, Shapley spoke and wrote about challenges to knowledge in ways the public could understand.
I am one of the few left who knew him well. I am a daughter of his son Willis and was born in 1945 to a close and devoted family. Though I’ve done a biography of Robert McNamara, a biography of Shapley would mean years of more focused research and because I am a non-scientist, is much harder. So, I decided to fill the gap in current knowledge by creating the Harlow Shapley Project (HSP).
The Harlow Shapley Project
The Project’s goals are “to raise knowledge of Shapley’s legacy among general audiences and scholars” and “to insert Shapley’s achievements and messages in popular, scientific and historic narratives, both written and multimedia.” (See the main page of harlowshapley.org and other links below.)
Its core is a hub website; the content is linked outward through tagging and social media posts. On the site you’ll find a full, searchable bibliography of Shapley’s publications and my long-form posts, such as “Close-up: Life with the Director” based on my aunt Mildred’s memoir. With family members and a volunteer expert and I made a section “Lloyd” for the 2023 centennial of my Nobel-winning uncle Lloyd Shapley. The four pages include a video on how to play Kriegspiel, recollections from colleagues and a flash card summary of his work.
The HSP products are immediate and shared. They invite others to contribute and respond. Overall, the project compiles content for other products, such as a documentary or a play.
This work should continue and evolve according to demand. For example, there could be better teaching materials on the 1920 Great Debate. The bibliography could touch off studies of coauthoring by men and women astronomers. As for the science side, I’m grateful for the astronomers and historians who now volunteer; the HSP could organize experts to re-look at how Shapley’s contributions led to work in the field today.
Useful for Scholarship
HSP can make an enduring difference by being public, useful to scholars and multi-generational. By now the impact is measurable in ‘hits’ and invitations. At Mount Wilson Observatory in July 2023, my lecture “Shapley’s Legacies After Mount Wilson” laid out Shapley’s public writings about the abundance of life in the universe. Recently, I was invited to write an entry on Martha Shapley for Edition III of the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Soon I will give a lecture at the Cosmos Club titled “Revisiting Shapley and Hubble.” As the initial goals of HSP are starting to be met, comments and advice are welcome. You may contact me through the site About/Contact page or at deborahshapley@yahoo.com.
Links to the website:
https://harlowshapley.org/about
https://harlowshapley.org/blog/harlow-shapley-legaices-deborah-shapley-lecture-mount-wilson
https://harlowshapley.org/lloyd
Deborah’s bio and author page https://harlowshapley.org/debthink
Harlow Shapley Facebook Group page https://www.facebook.com/groups/harlowshapleyproject
