On April 26th of 1920, Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis presented talks on the idea of island universes to the National Academy of Sciences. Held at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Great Debate, as it would come to be known, would showcase two differing views of the scale and structure of the universe. In this episode we look at the scientific developments made at the Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton by James Keeler and Curtis, the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ by Vesto Slipher and at Mt. Wilson near Pasadena that attempted to resolve the island universes question prior to the event itself.
Heber Curtis
Comments