Harlow Shapley
Harlow Shapley (November 2 1885 – October 20 1972) was an American astronomer.He studied under Henry Norris Russell and used the period-luminosity relation for Cepheid variable stars (discovered by Henrietta Swan Leavitt) to determine distances to globular clusters. He was the first to realize that the Milky Way Galaxy was much larger than previously believed.
He participated in the "Great Debate" with Heber D. Curtis on the nature of nebulas and galaxies and the size of the universe.
He served as director of Harvard College Observatory from 1921 to 1952.
He won the Bruce Medal and various other awards.
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