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Great Debates of Astronomy: The Scale of the Universe

The Scale of the Universe What the Great Debate was, how it was resolved, and why it was important. A subjective abstract in three short paragraphs.

  • Great Debate of 1920 centered on scale of Universe between Shapley and Curtis
  • Shapley argued Sun far from Galaxy center, Curtis claimed spiral nebulae were separate galaxies
  • Hubble's 1920s discovery proved Andromeda Galaxy vast, disproving both Shapley and Curtis

Great Debates in Astronomy

Following in the footsteps of the famous April 1920 ‘Great Debate’ between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, this series of debates among leaders in the astronomical community highlight major quests in…

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