The Great Debate of 1920: how it changed astronomy
April 28, 2021 at 10:10 am
In 1920, astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis came together to take part in the Great Debate about the scale of the Universe. But what ultimately, was astronomy’s Great Debate about, and how did it change the way we look at the Universe?
Advertisement
Harlow Shapley, a 34-year-old journalist-turned-astronomer, must have been nervous when he climbed the stage in the Baird Auditorium of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC on 26 April 1920. Facing him was a crowd of fellow scientists and lay people alike.
On stage after Shapley would be his opponent in the Great Debate, eminent astronomer Heber Curtis – a man 13 years his senior, more experienced and eloquent at speaking, and who disagreed with Shapley on just about everything.