Word: shapleys
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...Shapley's life, in fact, is a register of curiosity and energy. As a boy in Missouri, he enlisted as police reporter to earn money for college. "I had to cove some grisly sights," he reflects, "and I didn't like the idea of newspapers compromising ethics and advertising." Writing continued to intrigue him, nevertheless, and it was only a temporary shutdown of Missouri University's Journalism School that tempted him to try astronomy...
...temptation changed to a passion, and Shapley promptly published in "Popular Astronomy," won a scholarship to Princeton, and dashed through his Ph.D. in a year. His brilliant work attracted the Mr. Wilson Observatory staff, on which he served from 1914 to 1921. "During this period," Shapley recalls, "I developed my ideas for measuring the vast distance of the Universe." His theory prompted fellow astronomers to call him a "modern Copernicus" for the discovery that the sun is at the rim of the Milky Way Galaxy and not near the center. "I've been attacked for lots of reasons," Shapley remarks...
From the field of theory, Shapley stepped into administration as the Director of Harvard's Observatory. For 31 years he crusaded for challenging projects and placed the Observatory's telescopes as far away as Africa. He has also written numerous books, "not like my newspaper copy," Shapley says. "To make the book accurate I sometimes sit half an hour wondering whether to use perhaps, possibly, or probably...
...post-war organization of UNESCO and other groups for international cooperation. But a visit to Russia's Science Jubilee and his stand against rough treatment for the soviets brought charges of "sympathizer," and an eventual clash with Congressman Rankin's Un-American Activities committee. "The insinuations were unbelievable," Shapley recalls, "I'm as strong an anti-communist as the average American, probably more so." With a grandfather who was an underground slave runner, Shapley believes in "vigorous citizenship--and I've got three hundred years of ancestors to back...
Full clearance came from the Tydings senate Committee in 1950. Perhaps more significant, fellow scientists showed their faith in Shapley by electing him President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science a month after his wrangle with Congressman Rankin...