Baade, Shapley, and the Doubling of the Universe

Hetherington replies: “Shameless” is my characterization (and Walter Baade’s) of Harlow Shapley’s alleged attempt to take credit for doubling the scale of the universe, as described in Donald Osterbrock’s biography of Baade. As Sidney van den Bergh noted, although a New York Times article quoted Shapley but did not even mention Baade, Shapley’s articles in scientific journals acknowledged Baade’s contribution.

One of many strengths of Osterbrock’s historical work is his ability to probe behind the published record. He traced the New York Times article to a press release written by Sky & Telescope editor Charles Federer Jr, whose offices were at the Harvard College Observatory. According to Osterbrock, Federer got the story from Shapley, who based it on his oral presentation at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting a few days earlier. Furthermore, Osterbrock cited exchanges of letters between astronomers, including staff members at Harvard, that deplored Shapley’s perceived attempt to steal Baade’s idea, work, and results.

Osterbrock also found correspondence to and from Otto Struve, then president of the International Astronomical Union, discussing whether Shapley should be censured by the IAU and the AAS. Another letter Osterbrock found was from Ira Bowen, director of the Mount Wilson and Palomar observatories, asking Donald Menzel, acting director at Harvard, to make sure that no more popular articles or news releases were issued crediting Baade’s discovery to Shapley. Readers of Osterbrock’s fascinating history can study the extensive and carefully documented factual material and judge for themselves Shapley’s behavior in this matter.