Observatory will Honor Shapley's 25 Years as Director Wednesday

To commemorate 61-year-old Harlow Shapley's twenty-fifth year as director of the College Observatory, 100 members of his staff will attend a dinner at the Hotel Commander Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock.

Shapley, whose work in determining the distances of globular star clusters as a means to estimate the shape and dimensions of the Milky Way system is regarded by some scientists as equal to Copernicus' Astronomical discoveries, is Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy and a tutor in the Department of Astronomy.

Speakers at the anniversary will be David M. Little '18, secretary to the University; Percy W. Bridgman '04, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and Roger L. Putnam '15, of Springfield, member of the Observatory Visiting Committee. Leon Campbell, instructor in Astronomy and Observatory staff member, will be toastmaster.

Shapley was awarded a Doctor of Science degree by the University in 1933, and holds degrees from five other universities