The world has before its eyes one of the most brilliant examples of Stigler’s law of eponymy - which in its simplest form, asserts that ‘’No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer.” (University of Chicago statistics professor Stigler named the famed sociologist Robert K. Merton, author of the 1973 book The Sociology of Science, as the original discoverer of ‘Stigler's law’. )
We consider the question: Who is the father of the method used by astronomers to classify galaxies?
Two astronomers figuratively take their stand in the witness box: the world famous astronomer Edwin Hubble (Pasadena) and an amateur astronomer from the United Kingdom, Mr John Reynolds. In this lecture, a crucial letter will be unveiled to the audience. We carefully show that the system by which astronomers routinely classify galaxies today (the Hubble classification scheme) was actually conceived in the mind of one of Britain’s most gifted amateur astronomers – a man without any formal astronomical training – the great Mr. J.H. Reynolds of Low Wood, Birmingham, who later became President of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Other examples follow in the seminar of Stigler’s Law of Eponymy.
Conclusion: Ne nuntium necare – Do not kill the messenger John Reynolds