Word: shapley
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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With 14 associates of the department of Astronomy, Dr. Harlow Shapley, Director of the Harvard Observatory, attended two international conferences this summer and in two lectures maintained the reputation this college has of being the foremost in this hemisphere in astronomical research...
...meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Stockholm, Sweden, from August 3 to 10, papers were delivered by three men from Harvard. Dr. Shapley spoke on "The Distribution of Galaxies and the Absorption of Light in space." He confirmed previous indications that our own discshaped galaxy, the Milky Way, is surrounded by an immense, low-density globe of scattered stars...
...dense masses of the Milky Way are concerned, this is scientifically correct. But in recent years astronomical research has disclosed, far above and below the disk, a sparse population of stars which cosmically and gravitationally belong to the Milky Way galaxy. Harlow Shapley of Harvard Observatory, famed cosmic map maker, has interested himself in these galactic outriders...
...meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Stockholm last week, Dr. Shapley reported on 2,000 Cepheid variables (giant stars which fluctuate regularly in brightness) at considerable distances from the Milky Way's central plane. These have the effect of stretching the galaxy's "vertical" diameter to about 80,000 light-years.** The diameter across the disk is put at 100,000 lightyears. Thus, the flattish lens of the Milky Way is enclosed in a globe of stars, and the galaxy's total shape resembles a pumpkin...
...leaders of the university's branch of the American Federation of Teachers, even conservative facultymen feared their dismissal was a blow aimed at academic freedom, and they petitioned for an investigation. Thereupon, President James Bryant Conant appointed a committee of nine, including Law Professor Felix Frankfurter, Astronomer Harlow Shapley...