Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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In the 'Great Debate' of 1920, Shapley was just plain wrong about the structure of the Universe, which he said was the same as our galaxy, a ridiculous boner given the actual size of the universe. Curtis merely underestimated the size of the Milky Way, but said our galaxy was one of many and that the spiral nebulae were other galaxies and very far off. Mostly both are said to be a little right and a little wrong, given what is now known, and that the debate was a draw, but it is clear and obvious that while Shapley was overstating the size of the Milky Way by about three times, Curtis was underestimating it by three times, and had everything else correct. My guess is, Shapley's disgraceful hardcore commie politics are the main reason he's spoken of with such high regard.