ASOW 2012/05/13: The Great Debate, Part I

Seminars presented by astronomers and astrophysicists on a wide variety of astronomy topics.
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owlice
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ASOW 2012/05/13: The Great Debate, Part I

Post by owlice » Sat May 12, 2012 3:07 pm

The Great Debate, Part I
Presenter: Dr. Giuseppe Longo
Department of Physics, University of Napoli Federico III


Audio (MP3, 60Mb)

In 1920, Harlow Shapley and Heber D. Curtis held what became known as The Great Debate: Are distant spiral nebulae small and within our own galaxy, or are they large independent galaxies in their own right? This talk outlines the history that led up to The Great Debate.
First presented in Second Life in January, 2011.

Dr. Longo will answer a selection of questions posted by May 27, 2012.

A PDF of the slides can be downloaded here. (1.7Mb)

Files also available here: http://www.mica-vw.org/wiki/index.php/T ... te,_Part_I


Additional resources
The 1920 Shapley-Curtis Discussion: Background, Issues, and Aftermath by Virginia Trimble
The 'Great Debate': What Really Happened by Michael A. Hoskin, Editor, Journal for the History of Astronomy
'Great Debate' Review and History by Robert J. Nemiroff and Jerry T. Bonnell
Wikipedia article about The Great Debate
A closed mouth gathers no foot.

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