The Department of Astronomy announces a series of three illustrated lectures on Cosmogony to be given by Dr. Harlow Shapley of the Harvard College Observatory, Dr. Shapley, who came recently from Mt. Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, has made important contributions to the conception of the size of the stellar universe.

Less than a generation ago Simon Newcomb, one of America's foremost mathematical astronomers, estimated the diameter of the Galactic System to be not less than 7000 light years and later ventured to state that as an outside limit it could not likely exceed 20,000 light years. Dr. Shapley's researches have developed newer methods of determining stellar distances which leads him to the conclusion that the real dimensions of the Milky Way must exceed Newcomb's earlier estimate nearly fifty fold. Recent investigations in physics will have a very important bearing on certain cosmic problems. These swiftly changing ideas in regard to the extent and constitution of matter, of necessity revises cosmogony. What the structure of the universe now appears to be and the place of man in relation to it will be discussed by Dr. Shapley on the next three Monday evenings under the following subjects:

October 10, "Space and Stars."

October 17, "Stars and Atoms."

October 24, "Life and the Universe."

The first of the series will be given in the lecture room of the Jefferson Physical Laboratory next Monday evening at eight o'clock. The lectures will be open to all members of he University.