Shapley, Harlow (redirected from Shapley)

Shapley, Harlow (shăp`lē), 1885–1972, American astronomer, b. Nashville, Mo., grad. Univ. of Missouri, 1910, Ph.D. Princeton, 1913. He was astronomer at Mt. Wilson Observatory from 1914 to 1921, when he became director of Harvard Observatory. He did notable research work in photometry and spectroscopy, devoting particular study to the structure of the universe. He determined the size of the Milky Way and the position of its center as well as the position of the sun in the galaxy. Among his other distinguished contributions were his investigations in the fields of Cepheid variables (he established that they are pulsating stars rather than eclipsing binaries) and globular clusters. Shapley's works include Galaxies (1943) and Of Stars and Men (1958).

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Shapley, Harlow

(born Nov. 2, 1885, Nashville, Mo., U.S.—died Oct. 20, 1972, Boulder, Colo.) U.S. astronomer. In 1911 he began a determination of the dimensions of the components of numerous binary stars from measurements of their light variation when they eclipse one another; he also proposed (correctly) that Cepheid variables are pulsating variable stars, not eclipsing binaries (see eclipsing variable star). In 1914 he joined the staff of Mount Wilson Observatory. His study of the distribution of globular clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy led him to deduce that the Sun, previously thought to lie near the centre of the Galaxy, was 50,000 light-years from the centre (now estimated at about 27,000), leading to the first realistic estimate of the Galaxy's size. Shapley also studied neighbouring galaxies, especially the Magellanic Clouds, and found that galaxies tend to occur in clusters.

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Shapley, Harlow (1885–1972) astrophysicist; born in Nashville, Mo. To leave the farm, he took a business course, and at age 16 became a reporter for the Daily Sun in Chanute, Kans. With only a fifth-grade education, he attended the Presbyterian Carthage Collegiate Institute, graduated in two semesters, and went on to the University of Missouri: Columbia in 1907. The journalism school, his choice, was not yet open so he studied astronomy, an interest that was clinched by a teaching assistantship; in 1910 he graduated; in 1911 he took his Ph.D. at Princeton. He observed at Mt. Wilson Observatory from 1914 to 1921 before going to Harvard College where he directed the observatory from 1921–52. His early work included pioneer studies of binary stars and star clusters. He calculated that our sun is 30,000 light years from the center of the Milky Way, not at its center as was supposed; this resulted in the first realistic assessment of the size of our galaxy. Highly in demand as a lecturer, he wrote both technical works and more popular books such as Of Stars and Men (1958). He was active in scientific organizations and was the recipient of many honors.