With the biggest station in the East and one of the oldest in the South, Harvard would not be complete without boasting the highest observatory in the world. This is at Climax, Colorado, at an elevation of 11,520 feet. This solar station is jointly operated with the University of Colorado, and is equipped with a special telescope which completely eliminates or greatly reduces all the deficiencies of ordinary telescopes for coronal photography.
The roof of this station is directly on the Continental Divide, and the peak of the roof, uniquely conical in shape to prevent the gathering of snow, forms the water shed between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Yet the station sometimes pays a high price for its locations in the discomfort of its personnel.
Youngest Station
Newest of the eight observatories is the station at Sacramento Peak. New Mexico, which is administered jointly by Harvard and the U. S. Air Force. Located at an altitude of 9,200 feet and nine miles by air from Alamogordo, it will be an extremely large solar station. The site has been occupied for five years, but the station is uncompleted.
Research here is carried on with coronographs, flare photometers, and smaller equipment. The coronograph being installed this year is the largest in the world. The principal studies of this station will involve careful observations of the sun.
Shapley's Contributions
After looking at the eight Observatories and the amount of published material accumulated during his reign, Shapley can review the work with pride. Following his many years of acting as administrator, of worrying about endowments and all types of equipment, the 66 year old professor is about to become a bona fide classroom educator.
Shapley has never before taught an undergraduate class at Harvard. When he does the student body will get the chance to meet a man who is not alone a distinguished scientist, but an outstand-humanitarian as well. He will teach an upper level General Education course called Cosmography, the science which teaches the relation of the whole order of nature.
He has honorary degrees from nine American and six foreign universities and colleges, membership in fifteen foreign academies, and medals from numerous other societies and academies.
Nationally he has been president of a dozen scientific organizations, including Sigma Xi, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Involved in the charter writing of UNESCO, he has been a friend to countries entering the organization from infant beginnings and has helped some of them with their scientific works.
At the invitation of Pandit Nehru. Shapley went to India early in 1947 for the general inspection and report on astronomical observatories and other scientific institutions throughout India. This involved travels to all the large cities of India, and since that time Shapley has acted as informal advisor on scientific problems to India. He has also brought four Indian astronomers to the University.
Late in 1946 at the invitation of President Avilla Comache and President-elect Miguel Alomin. Shapley visited Mexico to receive the honors of the government for aiding scientific developments in that country since 1941.
If Shapley were to be given one chance to show what he has done for the Observatory, he would point to the representatives of seventeen different nations that were on his staff at one time.
Throughout his term, Shapley has found it difficult to raise the necessary funds for his Department. Although he has managed to raise endowments from $1,000,000 to $2,250,000 together with gifts of about $50,000 annually, Shapley still tells one story about his past difficulties.
Several years ago the daughter of the president of Colby College and her escort were walking by the spacious Observatory grounds, when a burglar jumped out of the darkness and snatched her purse containing $1.35. Shortly afterwards another man was robbed and the culprit again escaped.
When the victims complained, police examined the grounds but they found no one.
Solemnly, the director assembled his top staff: "Loyalty, gentlemen, is always appreciated. And yes, of course, the Observatory is hard up but really gentlemen really."