Hubble's Letter to Shapley

Harvard astronomer cecilia payne, happened to be in shapley's harvard office when hubble's message arrived. He held out the two pages to her and exclaimed, here is the letter that is destroyed my universe. Hubble was at last confirming the speculation that had been circulating through the astronomical community since the days of thomas wright, emmanuel kant and william herschel. The milky way was not alone, but merely one starry isle in an assembly of galactic islands that stretches outward for millions of light years.