San Antonio College Library

Depending upon and interacting with colleagues and competitors, scientists build their careers and power within communities of their peers. To understand scientists and the institutions they construct (such as the reward system), one must first unravel the complex structures and relationships that define scientific communities. In this collective biography of the more than 1,200 individuals who engaged in astronomical research, teaching, or practice...

Through original letters, photographs, and archival treasures, Man Discovers the Galaxies recaptures the uncertainties, the false steps, and the high excitement as Shapley, Kapteyn, Curtis, and Hubble forged the modern views of our galaxy and its neighbors.