The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-27
-0ietz on Science
FIVE BILLIONS
OF YEARS SET
AS EARTH ACE
Harvard Astronomer Bases
Figure on Position
of Nebraska.
BY DAVID DIETZ
Scripps- Howard Science Editor

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Nov 81
The universe is 5.O00OO0.OOO years
old, according to the latest calcula-
tons Of DR.. Harlow Shapley, world
famous astronomer and director Of
the Harvard College Observatory,
located in this city.
Scientists In all the parts Of the
world Will heave a sigh Of relief
when they hear Dr. Shapleys new
figure for it leads the world out Of
difficult position in which it found
itself during the last couple of
years.
Determination Of the age Of the
earth by a study Of the radioactive
content Of rocks, the best and most
accurate method known to science,
indicated that the earth was 2,0OO.-
100000 years old. but astronomers,
working on the basis Of the rate at
which the universe was expanding.
were unwilling to admit that the
whole universe could be that old.
Here was an obvious impOssibility.
How could the earth be older than
the universe itself,
Obviously one set Of figures must
be wrong and yet no one was pre-
pared to say which one. DR.. Shap-
ley leads the way out Of the diff
ficulty with his new figures. He per
mits the universe to be more than
twice as old as the earth, a state Of
affairs which will appeal to most
scientists as entirely reasonable.
Amazing Speed Shown
To understand how DR.. Shapley
arrives at his figure for the age Of
the universe, we must keep in mind
the way IN which the theory Of the
expanding universe developed.
1t is based upon the fact that
observation Of the distant spiral
nebulae indicate that they are all
moving away from our earth and
that the more distant ones are
moving the fastest those farthest
away showing such amazing speeds
as 1900 miles per second.
Now, if we knew how far away
these various nebulae are, and how
fast they are moving, We can cal
culate the age of the universe in a
very simple way We assume that
IN the beginning all the nebulae
were concentrated in one spot. Then
we calculate how long it would take
them to get where they are now.
That gives lis the age Of the uni
verse and until now, scientists were
puzzled by the fact that it gave such
d small figure.
New Figure Was Obtained
Now DR.. Shapley and his asso-
ciates have solved the difficulty.
They have just completed new pho
tometric determinations of the dis
tances of these various spiral
nebulae. The work shows that these
nebulae are further away than for
merly had been thought 1t will be
seen at once that if the nebulae are
further away, it would have taken
them longer to get where they are
now. Hence, the universe must be
= older than was formerly thought.
The whole problem is just as simple
as that.
Another conclusion from DR..
Shapley's new work is that the uni
verse is not expanding as rapidly as
formerly was thought. The rate Of
expansion is calculated from a con-
sideration Of both the speeds of the
nebulae and their distances. AS
already mentioned, speed increases
with distance.
But by showing that the nebulae
are farther away than formerly
thought, DR. Shapley has also shown
that the speed of these nebulae does
not increase as rapidly per unit of
distance as formerly was imagined
This means, therefore, that the uni
verse is expanding at a slower rate
than formerly was supposed.