The Day We Found the Universe - Marcia Bartusiak [149]
65 “must be regarded as having a very definite bearing”: Curtis (1917b), p. 182.
65 “Such is the progress of Astronomy”: HUA, Harlow Shapley to Henry Norris Russell, September 3, 1917, HUG 4773.10, Box 23C.
65 show off the plate: AIP, interview of C. Donald Shane by Helen Wright on July 11, 1967.
66 He said as much to the Associated Press: LOA, Newspaper Cuttings, Volume 9, 1905–1928, “Three New Stars Are Seen at Lick.”
66 20 million light-years distant: Curtis was not far off the mark. NGC 4527, the location of the first nova he spotted, is currently estimated to be around 30 million light-years from Earth.
67 On one plate alone he counted 304 additional spirals: Curtis (1918a), p. 13.
67 “The great numbers of small spirals found on nearly all my plates”: Ibid., pp. 12–14.
67 “Get up a collection of about 40 classy slides”: LOA, Curtis Papers, Folder 3, 1919–20, Curtis to Campbell, February 6, 1919.
68 “The history of scientific discovery affords many instances”: Curtis (1919), pp. 217–18.
68 Over the course of that March evening, Curtis laid out his arguments point by point: LOA, Curtis Papers, Folder 3, 1919–20, Lecture on “Modern Theories of the Spiral Nebulae.”
69 “As to my staying here permanently, I have no idea whatever of doing that”: LOA, Curtis Papers, Folder 2, Curtis to Campbell, December 8, 1918.
69 “The hypothesis of external galaxies is certainly a sublime and magnificent one”: Crommelin (1917), p. 376.
5. My Regards to the Squashes
70 “is not without a considerable atmosphere”: Herschel (1784a), p. 273.
71 “Considerable variations observed in the network of waterways”: Pannekoek (1989), p. 378.
71 news story of the year: “Mars” (1907), p. 1.
71 who had made their fortunes creating the American cotton industry: Strauss (2001), p. 3.
72 “After lying dormant for many years”: Lowell (1935), p. 5.
72 occasionem cognosce, “seize your opportunity”: Hoyt (1996), p. 15.
72 he once listed his address as “cosmos”: Strauss (2001), p. 5.
72 eventually fired one charter member of his observing staff: Hoyt (1996), pp. 123–24.
72 “The Strife of the Telescopes”: Hoyt (1996), p. 112.
73 “as efficient as could be constructed”: Hall (1970b), p. 162.
73 “I … take him only because I promised to do so”: LWA, Lowell to W. A. Cogshall, July 7, 1901.
73 for many of America's greatest astronomers … red and blue ends of the spectrum: Smith (1994), pp. 45–48.
74 “When you shall have learnt all about the spectroscope”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, December 18, 1901.
74 “kept himself well insulated from public view”: Hall (1970b), p. 161.
75 always wore a suit and tie to work when not observing: AIP, interview of Henry Giclas by Robert Smith on August 12, 1987.
75 “Don't observe sun much. It hurts lenses”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, January 11, 1902.
75 “Permit nobody whatever in observatory office”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, January 24, 1902.
75 “Will you kindly see if shredded wheat biscuit are to be got at Haychaff”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, January 4, 1903.
75 “How fare the squashes?”; “My regards to the squashes”; “You may when the squashes ripen send me one by express”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, October 7, 12, and 21, 1901.
75 “Why haven't I received squashes?”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, December 27, 1901.
75 “Thank you for taking so much pains with the garden!”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, May 26, 1902.
75 “Your vegetables came all right and delighted me hugely”: LWA, Lowell to Slipher, July 7, 1902.
75 eventually becoming a virtuoso … watery Mars: Hoyt (1996), pp. 129–45.
76 no sign at all: Not until the 1960s did astronomers confirm that water vapor in the Martian atmosphere was more than a thousand times less than the amount found in Earth's atmosphere, far lower than what Slipher could possibly have measured in the early 1900s with his equipment.
77 gas existed in the seemingly empty space between the stars: Smith (1994), p. 52.
77 “Dear Mr. Slipher, I would like to have you take with your red sensitive plates the spectrum of a white nebula”: LWA, Lowell to