100 years ago, astronomers Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley debated the structure of the universe, in an encounter remembered by historians as "The Great Debate."
Very nice summary! I wonder if Shapley ever realized the error of his ways and owned up to the fact that he was wrong! And I wonder how long it took before the average person heard about this infinite universe and what have been their response?
He did. Hubble’s result for M31 came only a few years after the debate, and Hubble sent it to Shapley in advance of publication as a courtesy. Shapley immediately recognized what it meant. Shapley lived until 1972, so certainly knew about developments in determining distances to the galaxies.
Very nice summary! I wonder if Shapley ever realized the error of his ways and owned up to the fact that he was wrong! And I wonder how long it took before the average person heard about this infinite universe and what have been their response?
He did. Hubble’s result for M31 came only a few years after the debate, and Hubble sent it to Shapley in advance of publication as a courtesy. Shapley immediately recognized what it meant. Shapley lived until 1972, so certainly knew about developments in determining distances to the galaxies.
@@GH-oi2jf Thanks for the reply! Very interesting topic!!! Regards.
curtis was right