哈罗·沙普利Harlow Shapley

哈罗·沙普利 出身农村。他的父亲 Willis 沙普利（1854-1913）和母亲 Sarah Stowell（1848-1932）从纽约州汉普顿来到密苏里州，现在拥有一个大农场。沙普利 有一个孪生兄弟 Horace（1885-1980）；一个姐姐 Lillian（生于1881年）；以及一个弟弟 弗瑞兹·约翰（1890-1978）。另外两个姐妹 Bertha Shapley（1877-1880）和 Edith Shapley（1878-1884）在童年时去世。让我们简要记下 沙普利 的兄弟姐妹的情况。

沙普利，即 沙普利 的孪生兄弟，成了农民。1920年人口普查时，他已丧偶，与母亲和姐姐 Lillian 住在密苏里州巴顿县纳什维尔附近的家庭农场。Lillian 成为教师，并于1920年9月27日与 Willard Willis Golladay 结婚。John Shapley 曾就读于密苏里大学、普林斯顿大学和维也纳大学。他于1918年9月19日与 Fern Helen Rusk 结婚。他是早期基督教和拜占庭艺术专家，先后任教于布朗大学，随后任纽约大学教授，最后任芝加哥大学艺术系教授兼系主任。

沙普利 在密苏里州贾斯珀上小学，但此后他的教育就中断了，只有一段短暂时间在一所师范学校，而且只被允许修读一门商业课程。之后，他在家中利用自己的空闲时间继续学习。不过，他在一次全家前往纽约州汉普顿探亲时，确实上过一年学。

15岁时，他成为堪萨斯州沙努特 Daily Sun 的犯罪新闻记者。他还为 Joplin (Missouri) Times 担任警务记者。他利用沙努特的卡内基图书馆继续自学。当他有足够的钱时，他和他的兄弟 约翰 决定上高中，并申请进入迦太基高中。两人都被拒绝录取，因为他们缺乏正规教育，表明他们不具备必要的背景。他们的下一次尝试是申请声望较低的 Presbyterian Carthage College Institute，该校录取了他们。沙普利 证明了他的自学是有效的，他仅用十八个月就完成了六年的课程。

1907年，他将近22岁时进入密苏里大学。他最初的打算是学习新闻学，但当时大学没有提供通向该职业的课程。沙普利在自传中回忆说，他决定学习按字母顺序排列的科目列表中的第一个科目，但由于不知道如何发音考古学，他最终学习了天文学。他很幸运地得到了许多才华横溢的讲师授课，包括弗雷德里克·汉利·西尔斯，后者后来成为威尔逊山天文台最重要的天文学家之一。沙普利协助西尔斯管理校园的小型天文台。他的数学讲师包括Oliver Kellogg和Earle Hedrick。他于1910年获得A.B.（文学学士）学位，一年后获得A.M.（文学硕士）学位。沙普利仍然对文学感兴趣，尤其是古典文学。其结果是他的第一篇论文Astronomy in Horace（1909年），发表在《大众天文学》上，正如他在论文开头相当令人惊讶地指出的那样，他并不关心天文学的学术观点：-

关于罗马人流行的天文学观念，最可靠的信息来源是拉丁文学中的记载。维吉尔、奥维德、卢克莱修以及共和国晚期和帝国早期哲学作家的作品包含大量天文学典故，但这些对于考察普通罗马人在自然科学领域的观念并无用处，因为民众的观念不能从更有学问的作家的观念中很好地推断出来。要确定普通罗马人对天体说了什么、相信什么，我们必须转向一位主要处理普通人思想的人。这样的作家就是诗人贺拉斯。贺拉斯热爱自然，但他不是学者。从他在雅典的学习中，他告诉我们他学会了区分是非；但他嘲笑那些专业学生，他们在书本中老去，走出去像雕像一样哑口无言，逗乐民众。贺拉斯可能从未研究过星星，满足于接受流行的观念。既然正是这些日常的普通观念在他的爱情和饮酒歌中得到表达，那么他对天象的提及可以被视为早期帝国罗马人民天文学知识的一个指示。

在密苏里大学的最后一年，按照Oliver Kellogg的建议，沙普利申请并获得了普林斯顿大学天文台的索恩奖学金。在普林斯顿期间，他与系主任亨利·诺里斯·罗素一起分析食双星的光变曲线。他们计算了他们研究的许多恒星的质量和距离。沙普利的博士论文主题是食双星。他还研究了造父变星，当时人们怀疑它们是双星的一种。他在On the Nature and Cause of Cepheid Variation（1914年）中提出了对其性质的另一种解释，其中他正确地假设造父变星是脉动的单星。1913年，当沙普利与他的兄弟约翰在欧洲旅行并会见许多欧洲领先的天文学家时，他的父亲被闪电击中去世。1914年4月15日，他与Martha Betz结婚，后者是他在密苏里大学遇到的同学，当时正在布林莫尔学院攻读博士学位。科帕尔在[30]中推测，由于她的数学技能超过了沙普利和他的导师亨利·诺里斯·罗素，Betz可能帮助了沙普利博士论文Princeton Observatory Contribution No. 3中的计算，该论文对食双星系统的研究极为重要。同年，他在加利福尼亚州威尔逊山天文台获得了一个初级天文学家的职位。Betz和沙普利在沙普利完成博士学位后结婚，他说服Betz放弃了在布林莫尔攻读博士学位的研究[1]：-

1914年4月，在从新泽西州普林斯顿前往加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳和威尔逊山天文台的途中，沙普利在密苏里州堪萨斯城停留。他的未婚妻Martha Betz早些时候从布林莫尔抵达，正在她父母家等他。他们在她家由乔治·汉密尔顿·科姆斯博士主持婚礼，他是堪萨斯州基督会一位著名的牧师。婚礼后，他们登上前往加利福尼亚的火车。沙普利回忆道：“这是一次漫长的旅行，但我随身带了一些好的观测资料，我们在蜜月期间研究食双星的轨道。沙普利夫人计算非常快，所以我们愉快地度过了几天。”

度完蜜月后，他们搬到了加利福尼亚的威尔逊山天文台，两人都开始在那里担任天文学家。此时他们住在洛杉矶帕萨迪纳的洛斯罗夫莱斯。在威尔逊山天文台的这段时间是沙普利一生中最多产的时期。他发表了一百多篇不同的论文。其中最重要的一篇是他对球状星团中变星的研究，这项研究是在沙普利访问哈佛大学天文台期间，由Solon Irving Bailey建议他进行的。他的工作导致了银河系中心的发现。沙普利注意到球状星团分布在一个远离太阳的大型球状系统中。随后，他将星团系统的中心认定为银河系的中心，并发现了它与太阳之间的距离（他将其高估为17000秒差距）。爱德文·哈勃后来会使用与沙普利相同的技术来确定星系之间的距离。

沙普利 在 Remarks on the Arrangement of the Sidereal Universe (1918) 中发表了他的发现。他关于太阳系远离银河系中心的结论几乎没有遭到反对就被接受了，但他对球状星团估计距离的数值却引起了争议，因为这些数值超出了人们的预期。在威尔逊山天文台台长乔治·埃勒里·海尔的建议下，National Academy of Sciences 组织了两场连续的讲座：一场由 沙普利 主讲，另一场由他最激烈的反对者之一、利克天文台的天文学家希伯·道斯特·柯蒂斯主讲，柯蒂斯当年晚些时候将成为阿勒格尼天文台的台长。1920年4月26日，这场后来被称为“大辩论”的辩论在华盛顿特区 科学院 的年会上举行。这场辩论没有真正的赢家，因为虽然 沙普利 关于银河系大小的论证是正确的，但他也主张银河系之外的旋涡星云和椭球星云在尺度上要小得多。我们现在知道这是错误的，这些星云与银河系一样大甚至更大，正如柯蒂斯在大辩论中所提出的那样。沙普利 受到了他的朋友、同样在威尔逊山天文台工作的荷兰天文学家阿德里安·范马宁的错误测量的影响。

除了天文学之外，他还养成了研究天文台周围蚂蚁的爱好。他发表了多篇关于蚁学的论文，并与美国领先的蚂蚁专家之一威廉·莫顿·安娜·约翰逊·佩尔·惠勒 成为朋友。

由于他的天文发现，沙普利引起了哈佛有影响力人士的注意，他们认为他是接替Edward Charles Pickering担任哈佛天文台台的最佳人选，沙普利于1921年担任了这一职位。塞西莉亚·佩恩-加波施金写道[5]：-

这位年轻的台长无处不在，一次两级台阶地跑上楼，把柔软的沙色头发从额头上推开，以同样随和的愉快心情问候每个人。他确切地知道每位员工在做什么。他定期在每张桌子前停留，用几句精心选择的话让我们每个人都感到重要。……[他给了我们]个人鼓励，传达出每个人的工作都真正重要的感觉。这是他早期成功的秘诀。

在那里，他的科学产出减少了，因为他专注于提高他现在所领导的机构的声誉。他领导了一个关于麦哲伦南方星云的研究项目，并鼓励安妮·坎农完成恒星光谱的亨利·德雷珀星表。来自世界各地的许多天文学家来到哈佛，与沙普利及其同事一起工作。也是在这段时间，位于秘鲁的哈佛大学天文台迁至南非布隆方丹附近的一个地点。

尽管塞西莉亚·佩恩-加波施金在[5]中对沙普利写得非常正面，但她也评论了他较为负面的特点：-

他喜欢被奉承……伴随着他对奉承的敏感，还有一个不那么讨人喜欢的特质。他从不忘记或原谅任何轻视。他虚荣且报复心强。作为慷慨的支持者和令人兴奋的伙伴，他也可能是一个不可调和的敌人。在他出版的回忆录中，他说他不记得讨厌过任何人。我认为那是夸大其词。

他于1924年成为国家科学院的成员，并担任过十多个国家科学院的外籍院士或通讯院士。他活跃于国际天文学联合会，并于1934年获得皇家天文学会颁发的金质奖章。他曾担任美国科学促进会、美国天文学会、American Academy of Arts and Sciences和Sigma Xi的主席。1939年，他获得太平洋天文学会颁发的布鲁斯奖章。在向他颁发该奖项时，即将卸任的主席Hamilton H Jeffers说[28]：-

沙普利对天文研究的诸多贡献可以简明地——尽管并不完全地——归类为光度学、光谱学和宇宙演化学领域。他一直是变星研究的领军人物，尤其是食变星和造父变星。他设计并应用了测定星团内外暗星色指数的方法。凭借这些研究及其他研究的结果，再加上非凡的独创性和足智多谋，他得以开发出间接但非常强大的手段来测量我们宇宙中天体的距离。他成功探测到了远超经典方法所能处理的深空。现在，给定天体的距离和方向，它们在空间中的实际位置便可知晓。通过这些通用手段，我们的奖章获得者已经并继续在研究恒星、星团和星云的空间分布，这些天体所属的系统，它们的宇宙学关系和意义，或者概括地说，我们宇宙的“解剖学”。

第二次世界大战期间，沙普利参与了人道主义行动。他帮助许多犹太科学家逃离欧洲，为他们提供在美国的避难所。战争结束后，他参与了多项保障和平的国际努力，这分散了他作为主任的职责，导致哈佛天文台失去部分声誉。他负责在UNESCO（联合国教育、科学及文化组织）中加入了S，并坚定地信奉其理想，即使许多美国人已经放弃了这个项目。

在20世纪40年代和50年代，他继续以开明的态度行事。他成为全国艺术、科学与专业理事会的主席，该组织为民主党候选人筹集资金。他与总统Franklin D Roosevelt和Harry S Truman保持联系。他支持国家科学基金会。沙普利的行动在美国政治中较为保守的部分遭到了反对。参议员Joseph McCarthy在1950年指控他是共产主义者，沙普利受到了调查。塞西莉亚·佩恩-加波施金在1947年写道[32]：-

当一位年轻学生问他成功的秘诀时，沙普利回答说，秘诀在于他的综合能力：识别并实现相邻领域之间的相互关系。正是这种能力引领他进入职业生涯的第五个阶段——作为国际主义者的工作。他早年是国际天文学联合会的推动者，此后不断扩大活动范围，直至远远超出科学的严格界限，关注世界各国人民之间理解与合作的更重大问题。

沙普利于1952年退休，搬到新罕布什尔州的沙伦。他放弃了研究，但继续在全国各地讲学，激励许多年轻人成为天文学家。尽管沙普利是公开的不可知论者，他喜欢讨论宗教，并于1969年从米德维尔-隆巴德神学院获得神学博士学位。同年，他出版了一部非正式的自传，题为Through Rugged Ways to the Stars。

1933年3月，阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦出席了在纽约康莫多尔酒店举行的犹太电讯社宴会。除了阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦用德语发表的演讲（后来被翻译成英语）外，还有几位著名演讲者。其中一位是沙普利，他发表了题为“宇宙巡游”的演讲。我们在THIS LINK给出他演讲的一个版本。

沙普利于1972年去世，享年86岁，当时住在科罗拉多州博尔德。他葬在沙伦当地公墓。他留下了妻子Martha和五个孩子：米尔德里德（1915年2月15日出生）、威利斯沙普利（1917年3月出生）、艾伦·霍勒斯（1919年3月出生）、劳埃德·斯托威尔（1923年6月2日出生）和卡尔·贝茨（1927年10月11日出生）。让我们谈谈其中一些孩子。

沙普利嫁给了拉尔夫·马修斯，她成为意大利的里雅斯特天文台的助理主任。威利斯沙普利成为美国国家航空航天局官员，参与开发载人登月项目。艾伦Horace Shapley是国家海洋和大气管理局局长，并在1957-58年担任美国国际地球物理年委员会副主席。劳埃德·斯托威尔沙普利成为兰德公司的数学家和经济学家，然后成为加州大学洛杉矶分校的教授。他于2012年获得诺贝尔经济学奖。卡尔Betz Shapley为国家美术馆工作，然后成为私立学校的教师，后来在康涅狄格州里奇菲尔德开办了自己的私立学校。

Harlow Shapley came from a rural background. His father, Willis Harlow Shapley (1854-1913), and mother, Sarah Stowell (1848-1932), had come to Missouri from Hampton, New York, and now possessed a big farm. Shapley had a twin brother, Horace (1885-1980); an older sister, Lillian (born 1881); and a younger brother, John (1890-1978). Two other sisters, Bertha Shapley (1877-1880) and Edith Shapley (1878-1884) died as children. Let us make brief notes about Harlow's siblings.

Horace Shapley, Harlow's twin brother, became a farmer. At the time of the 1920 census he was widowed and living on the family farm near Nashville, Barton, Missouri with his mother and sister Lillian. Lillian became a teacher and married Willard Willis Golladay on 27 September 1920. John Shapley studied at the University of Missouri, Princeton University and the University of Vienna. He married Fern Helen Rusk on 19 September 1918. An expert on early Christian and Byzantine art, he was on the faculty of Brown University, then Professor at New York University and finally Professor and Chairman of the Department of Art at University of Chicago.

Harlow Shapley attended elementary school in Jasper, Missouri, but his education stopped after that, aside from a brief period in a normal school where he was only permitted to take a business course. He then continued studying in his own free time, at home. He did have one year attending school, however, on a family visit to Hampton, New York.

At age 15, he became a crime reporter for the Daily Sun in Chanute, Kansas. He also worked as a police reporter for the Joplin (Missouri) Times. He made use of the Carnegie library in Chanute to continue his self-study. When he had enough money, he and his brother John decided to attend high school and they applied to enter Carthage High School. Both were refused admission because their lack of much formal education indicated that they would not have the necessary background. Their next attempt was to apply to the less prestigious Presbyterian Carthage College Institute which accepted them. Harlow Shapley proved his self-study had been effective, and he completed the six years of the curriculum in just eighteen months.

In 1907, at almost age 22, he entered the University of Missouri. His initial intention was to study journalism, but the University did not offer courses leading to that career at this time. Shapley recalls in his autobiography that he decided to study the first subject in the alphabetically ordered list, but, not knowing how to pronounce archaeology, he ended up studying astronomy. He was fortunate to be taught by many talented lecturers, including Frederick Hanley Seares, who later became one of the most important astronomers at Mount Wilson Observatory. Shapley assisted Seares in running the small campus observatory. His mathematics lecturers included Oliver Kellogg and Earle Hedrick. He obtained an A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) degree in 1910, and the degree of A.M. (Master of Arts) a year later. Shapley was still interested in literature, the classics in particular. A result of this was his first paper Astronomy in Horace (1909), published in "Popular Astronomy" where, as he indicates rather surprisingly at the beginning of the paper, he is not concerned with scholarly views of astronomy:-

The most reliable sources of information relating to the popular astronomical notions of the Romans are those found in Latin literature. The works of Virgil, Ovid, Lucretius, and the philosophical writers of the later republic and early empire contain numerous astronomical allusions, but these are not serviceable in a consideration of the ideas of the average Roman in the realm of natural science, for the conceptions of the masses of the people can not well be inferred from those of the more learned writers. To ascertain what the ordinary Roman said and believed of the celestial bodies, we must turn to one who dealt largely with the thoughts of the common people. Such a writer was the poet Horace. Horace was a lover of nature, but he was not a scholar. From his studies at Athens he tells us that he learned to distinguish right from wrong; but be ridicules the professional student, who, grown old in books, goes forth dumb as a statue and amuses the populace. Probably Horace never studied the stars, being content to accept the popular ideas. Since it is these common, every day notions that find expression in his songs of love and wine, his references to celestial phenomena may be taken as an indication of the astronomical knowledge of the Roman people of the early empire.

During his final year at the University of Missouri, following Oliver Kellogg's suggestion, Shapley applied for and was awarded the Thaw Fellowship at Princeton University Observatory. While at Princeton, he worked on the analysis of light curves of eclipsing binaries, together with Henry Norris Russell, the head of the Department. They calculated masses and distances for many of the stars they studied. Shapley's doctoral dissertation was on the topic of eclipsing binaries. He also studied Cepheid variables stars, which at that time were suspected of being a type of binary star. He presented an alternate explanation of their properties in On the Nature and Cause of Cepheid Variation (1914), where he correctly posited Cepheid stars were pulsating single stars. In 1913, while Shapley was on a trip through Europe with his brother John meeting many leading European astronomers, his father died struck by lightning. On 15 April 1914, he married Martha Betz, a fellow student he had met in the University of Missouri who was then studying for a Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr College. Kopal posits in [30] that, since her mathematical skills exceeded those of both Shapley and his advisor Henry Norris Russell, Betz might have helped with the calculations in Shapley's Ph.D. thesis, the Princeton Observatory Contribution No. 3, which was hugely important for the study of eclipsing binary systems. That same year, he obtained a position as Junior Astronomer at Mount Wilson Observatory in California. Betz and Shapley were married after Shapley completed his Ph.D. and he had persuaded Betz to give up her research for a Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr [1]:-

In April 1914, on his way from Princeton, New Jersey to Pasadena, California and the Mount Wilson Observatory, Shapley stopped in Kansas City, Missouri. His fiancée Martha Betz had arrived earlier from Bryn Mawr, and was waiting for him at her parents' home. They were married at her home by Dr George Hamilton Combs, a well-known pastor in the Disciples of Christ Church in Kansas. After the wedding they boarded a train for California. Shapley recollected, "It was a long trip, but I had some nice observations with me, and we worked on the orbits of eclipsing binaries on the honeymoon. Mrs Shapley was very quick at computing, so we enjoyed ourselves for a couple of days."

After their honeymoon they moved to the Mount Wilson Observatory, in California, where they both started working as astronomers. At this time they lived in Los Robles, Pasadena, Los Angeles. This stay at Mount Wilson was the most prolific era of Shapley's life. He published over one hundred different papers. Among them, his most important one was his study of variable stars in globular star clusters, which he undertook after Solon Irving Bailey suggested it during a visit of Shapley's to Harvard College Observatory. His work led to the discovery of the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Shapley noticed that the globular clusters were distributed in a large spheroidal system, far away from the Sun. He then identified the centre of the system of clusters with the centre of the Milky Way and found the distance between it and the sun (he overestimated it to be 17000 parsecs). Edwin Powell Hubble would later use the same techniques as Shapley to determine the distances between galaxies.

Shapley published his findings in Remarks on the Arrangement of the Sidereal Universe (1918). His conclusion of the Solar System being far from the centre of the Milky Way was accepted with little opposition, but his values for the estimated distances of the globular star clusters were disputed, as they fell outside expectations. Under the suggestion of the Director of Mount Wilson Observatory, George Ellery Hale, the National Academy of Sciences organised two successive lectures: one from Shapley and one from one of his most vocal opponents, Heber Doust Curtis, an astronomer from Lick Observatory who would later that year become the Director of Allegheny Observatory. On 26 April 1920, the Great Debate (as it came to be known) took place in the annual meeting of the Academy in Washington D.C. The debate had no real winner for, while Shapley did argue correctly about the size of the Milky Way, he also defended that the spiral and ellipsoidal nebulae outside of it were much smaller in scale. We now know that this is false and that the nebulae are as big as or bigger than the Milky Way, as Curtis proposed in the Great Debate. Shapley had been influenced by the wrong measurements of his friend the Dutch astronomer Adriaan Van Mannen, who also worked at Mount Wilson Observatory.

Aside from astronomy, he developed the hobby of studying the ants around the Observatory. He published several papers on myrmecology and befriended William Morton Wheeler, one of the leading ant specialists of the United States.

Because of his astronomical discoveries, Shapley gained the attention of people with influence at Harvard, who decided he was the best candidate to succeed Edward Charles Pickering as Director of the Harvard Observatory, a position Shapley took up in 1921. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin writes [5]:-

The young director was everywhere, running upstairs two steps at a time, pushing his soft sandy hair off his forehead, greeting everyone with the same casual cheerfulness. He knew exactly what every member of staff was doing. He made regular stops at each desk, and with a few well-chosen words made each of us feel important. ... [He gave us] personal encouragement, which conveyed the sense that everyone's work was of real importance. It was the secret of his early success.

There, his scientific output decreased, because he focused on improving the reputation of the institution he now directed. He led a research project on the southern star clouds of Magellan and encouraged Annie Jump Cannon to complete the Henry Draper catalogue of stellar spectra. Many astronomers from all parts of the world came to Harvard to work with Shapley and his associates. Also during this time, the Harvard College Observatory in Peru was relocated to a site near Bloemfontein, in South Africa.

Although Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin writes very positively about Shapley in [5], she also comments on his more negative characteristics:-

He liked to be flattered ... With his susceptibility to flattery went a less endearing trait. He never forgot or forgave a slight. He was vain and vindictive. A generous supporter, a stimulating companion, he could also be an implacable enemy. In his published recollections he says that he does not remember disliking anyone. I think that was an exaggeration.

He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1924 and a foreign member or associate of over twelve National Academies. He was active in the International Astronomical Union and was awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society in 1934. He was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Astronomical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Sigma Xi. He was awarded the Bruce Medal by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1939. In presenting him with this award, Hamilton H Jeffers, the retiring president, said [28]:-

Dr Shapley's many contributions to astronomical research may be concisely, if not fully, classified as being in the fields of photometry, spectroscopy, and cosmogony. He has been a leader in the study of variable stars, especially those of the eclipsing and Cepheid types. He has devised and applied methods of determining the colour indices of faint stars both in and outside of clusters. With the results of these, and other, studies, combined with a remarkable amount of ingenuity and resourcefulness, he has been able to develop indirect but very powerful means for measuring the distances of objects in our universe. He has succeeded in plumbing depths of space that are far beyond those that can be dealt with by the classical methods. Now, given the distances and directions of objects, their actual situations in space become known. By these general means our Medallist has investigated, and continues to investigate, the distribution in space of stars, star clusters, and nebulae, the systems of which these objects are parts, their cosmological relations and significance, or, in general, the "anatomy" of our universe.

During the Second World War, Shapley participated in humanitarian actions. He helped many Jewish scientists flee from Europe, giving them refuge in the United States. Once the war ended, he participated in several international efforts to guarantee peace, which distracted him from his duties as director and caused Harvard Observatory to lose part of its reputation. He was responsible for adding the S to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and firmly subscribed to its ideals, even after many Americans had abandoned the project.

In the 1940s and 1950s, he continued acting with a liberal attitude. He became president of the National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, which raised money for democratic candidates. He was in contact with Presidents Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry S Truman. He supported the National Science Foundation. Shapley's actions found opposition in the more conservative part of American politics. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused him of being a communist in 1950, and Shapley was subject to an investigation. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin writes in 1947 [32]:-

To a young student who asked the secret of his success, Shapley replied that it had lain in his power of synthesis: of recognising, and giving effect to, the interrelationships of neighbouring fields. It is this power that has led him to the fifth phase of his career - his work as an internationalist. Early a moving spirit of the International Astronomical Union, he has broadened his activities until they extend far beyond the strict boundaries of the sciences and concern themselves with the graver problems of understanding and cooperation among the world's peoples.

Harlow Shapley retired in 1952 and moved to Sharon, New Hampshire. He abandoned research, but continued giving lectures throughout the country, inspiring many young people to become astronomers. Though Shapley was a declared agnostic, he enjoyed discussing religion, and he obtained a doctorate in Divinity in 1969 from the Meadville-Lombard Theological School. Also in that same year, he published an informal autobiography, titled Through Rugged Ways to the Stars.

In March 1933 Albert Einstein attended the Banquet of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency held in the Hotel Commodore in New York. In addition to an address by Einstein in German (later translated into English) there were several noted speakers. One of these was Harlow Shapley who gave this address on 'The Cosmic Parade'. We give a version of his address at THIS LINK.

Shapley died in 1972, at age 86, while staying in Boulder, Colorado. He is buried in the local cemetery of Sharon. He left behind his wife Martha and his five children, Mildred (born 15 February 1915), Willis Harlow (born March 1917), Alan Horace (born March 1919), Lloyd Stowell (born 2 June 1923) and Carl Betz (born 11 October 1927). Let us say a little about some of these children.

Mildred Shapley married Ralph Matthews and she became Assistant Director of the Observatory in Trieste, Italy. Willis Harlow Shapley became a NASA official involved in developing the project to land a man on the moon. Alan Horace Shapley was Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and served as Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Committee for the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58. Lloyd Stowell Shapley became a mathematician and economist at the RAND corporation then a professor at the University of California Los Angeles. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2012. Carl Betz Shapley worked for the National Gallery of Art, and then became a teacher in private schools going on to open his own private school in Ridgefield, Connecticut.