Martha Betz Shapley (1890–1981) was an American astronomer known for her research on
eclipsing binary star
A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...
s.
Early life
Shapley was born on August 3, 1890 in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, one of seven children of school music teacher Carl Betz (1854–1898) and his wife. Her family were descendants of German immigrants, and her grandfather once told her that he had seen astronomer
Caroline Herschel
Caroline Lucretia Herschel (; 16 March 1750 – 9 January 1848) was a German born British astronomer, whose most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigolle ...
in the streets of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
in Germany. Her mother and two sisters became schoolteachers, and Shapley herself became a schoolteacher at age 15. Three years later, she began her studies at the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
, where she earned a bachelor's degree in education, a second bachelor's degree, and a master's degree, in 1910, 1911, and 1913, respectively. She became a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
.
She became a high school mathematics teacher in 1912, and soon afterwards began working towards a doctorate in German literature at
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
in Pennsylvania. In 1914, she left the program to marry
Harlow Shapley
Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American scientist, head of the Harvard College Observatory (1921–1952), and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal.
Shapley used Cepheid variable stars to estim ...
, an astronomer who had been a fellow student with her in Missouri.
Astronomical research
Shapley moved with her husband to the
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles.
The observat ...
and
Harvard College Observatory
The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...
, and from 1915 through 1927 she continued to publish research on eclipsing binary stars, despite not having any formal academic appointment. This was a topic which her husband had previously studied as a graduate student but had moved on from;
Zdeněk Kopal
Zdeněk Kopal (; 4 April 1914 – 23 June 1993) was a Czechoslovak astronomer who mainly worked in England.
Kopal was born and grew up in Litomyšl (Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic). In his early astronomical career, he studied variable ...
has speculated that (as she was the more talented in mathematics of the two Shapleys) she provided significant anonymous assistance to her husband in his doctoral work. Eventually, the pressure of family life caused her to set aside her work in this area.
War service and security investigation
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, in order to contribute to the war effort, Shapley applied to work for the civil service doing
cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...
, a subject she had previously studied, but was unable to find a position doing this in Boston.
Instead, she began working with Zdeněk Kopal calculating tables of munitions trajectories. After the war, when senator
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
and the
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
began investigating her husband for his left-leaning political views, she came under fire as well, and in 1950 after she was discovered to have brought home data from Kopal on eclipsing binary stars she was relieved of her military work and of her
security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...
. However, her clearance was restored and she was allowed to resume her work several months later.
Later life
Shapley's husband retired in 1952, and the couple moved to New Hampshire, but Shapley continued her work on eclipsing binaries. In 1956, with Kopal, she published her last major work, ''Catalogue of the Elements of Eclipsing Binaries''. After her husband's death in 1972, she moved again, to Arizona. She died on January 24, 1981.
Her daughter
Mildred Shapley Matthews
Mildred Shapley Matthews (February 15, 1915 – February 11, 2016) was a book editor and writer known for astronomy books. She was the daughter of astronomers Harlow Shapley and Martha Betz Shapley; her father named the asteroid 878 Mildred for he ...
also became a noted astronomer, her son
Willis Shapley
Willis Harlow Shapley (March 2, 1917 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil servant best known as the third-ranking administrator for NASA during the Apollo program.
Biography
Shapley was born March 2, 1917 in Pasadena, California. His ...
became an administrator at
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, and another son
Lloyd Shapley
Lloyd Stowell Shapley (; June 2, 1923 – March 12, 2016) was an American mathematician and Nobel Prize-winning economist. He contributed to the fields of mathematical economics and especially game theory. Shapley is generally considered one of ...
became a Nobel-prize-winning mathematician and economist.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapley, Martha Betz
1890 births
1981 deaths
American people of German descent
Physicists from Missouri
Scientists from Missouri
Mathematicians from Missouri
American women astronomers
University of Missouri alumni