Willis Harlow Shapley (1917-2005)
Willis Harlow Shapley, a longtime member of the Science Service Board of Trustees, died Oct. 24. His family has established the Willis Harlow Shapley Education Fund at Science Service to support science-education programs, including the weekly online publication Science News for Kids.
Shapley served with distinction in the federal government in such areas as budgeting, research and development, national defense, and space. In 1958, he helped craft the act that created NASA. In 1961, he worked on the memorandum that President John F. Kennedy used to initiate the U.S. effort to send a man to the moon. In 1965, he became Associate Deputy Administrator of NASA.