[2] He was the director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian from 1982 to 2004.
He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory in 1954 and became a professor of physics there in 1967.
In 1982, he took a position as professor and Guggenheim Fellow[5] at his alma mater, Harvard, and also became director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
[2] Shapiro's research interests include astrophysics, astrometry, geophysics, gravitation, including the use of gravitational lenses to assess the age of the universe.
[6] In 1981, Edward Bowell discovered the 3832 main belt asteroid and it was later named after Shapiro by his former student Steven J.