Dr. Harlow Shapley, director of Harvard Observatory and president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has accepted chairmanship of a national committee formed to facilitate plans for commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of Nicholas Copernieus, great Polish astronomer, the Keseluszke Foundation has announced.

Copernicus, who is often called the father of modern astronomy, was the originator of the Copernican system of astronomy with the sun as the center of the solar system, which revolutionized our conception of the universe.

A nation-wide program of scientific demonstrations will be guided by Dr. Shapley and the committee, with academic exercises and lectures honoring Copernicus culminating at a meeting in Carnezle Ball, New York, where Jan Clechanowakl, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to this country, will take part in the program.