Background information, educational material, and published proceedings for a series of debates on fundamental questions of astronomy at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History between 1995 and 1998. Also includes material on the great debate between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis on the scale of the universe, held at the same location in 1920.

Argues how cosmology between 1932-48 provides an excellent example for philosophical considerations directing the evolution of modern science. Article by George Gale in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.