268:, 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. Throughout World War II, Shapley utilized her mathematical prowess to support the war endeavors. For a duration of four years, she dedicated her efforts to calculating firing tables for the Navy and Air Force within the Division of Industrial Cooperation at MIT.
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Shapley worked at the
Harvard College Observatory from 1921 to 1932. She gained recognition for her expertise in eclipsing binary stars and additionally conducted mathematical computations for a range of diverse projects. Specializing in the computation of eclipsing binary star orbits, she focused on
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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.
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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
236:, 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;
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pairs of stars orbiting closely together, appearing as a single variable point of light from Earth. Between 1917 and 1932, she meticulously calculated and published the orbital paths of at least 14 such binary stars.
193:, 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
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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,
205:, 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
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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
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She became a high school mathematics teacher in 1912, and soon afterwards began working towards a doctorate in German literature at
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Welther, Barbara L. (1986), "Guilt by
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440:(1981), "In memoriam: Martha Betz Shapley (1890–1981)",
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456:1981Ap&SS..79..261.
203:University of Missouri
179:eclipsing binary stars
81:University of Missouri
408:"Martha Betz Shapley"
366:"Martha Betz Shapley"
224:Astronomical research
191:Kansas City, Missouri
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502:1986BAAS...18R1055W
402:O'Connor, John J.;
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175:Martha Betz Shapley
23:Martha Betz Shapley
16:American astronomer
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60:(1981-01-24)
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319:References
288:Later life
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163:Astronomy
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