Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science
This fascinating portrait of an amateur astronomy movement tells the story of how Charles Olivier recruited a hard-working cadre of citizen scientists to rehabilitate the study of meteors. By 1936, Olivier and members of his American Meteor Soci
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Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science
RICHARD TAIBI
Springer Biographies
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13617
Richard Taibi
Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science
123
Richard Taibi Temple Hills, MD USA
ISSN 2365-0613 Springer Biographies ISBN 978-3-319-44517-5 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44518-2
ISSN 2365-0621
(electronic)
ISBN 978-3-319-44518-2
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016949123 © Richard Taibi 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated with love to my wife Margaret whose encouragement during the long process of writing this book has been much appreciated
Preface
Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science was to be a centennial history of the American Meteor Society (AMS), from 1911 to 2011. However, when I investigated the AMS’ historical papers and myriads of related published documents, I realized that there was an intriguing saga that deserved to be told. Instead of the centennial history, I decided to pursue the emergent story by focusing on a biography of its founder, Dr. Charles P. Olivier. A professional astronomer, I wondered why Olivier invited amateur astronomers to be his colleagues in a research project. When I learned that the amateurs’ observational contributions to meteor science were so substantial, it seemed just that they receive biographies too. So, biographical inquiries about them were added to the research plan for a history that spanned the years 1911–1936. The book’s outline became more complicated in the course of tracing Olivier’s career history; research revealed a fascinating schism in the professional astronomical community. It needed to be described to provide context for his career. So, the book’s plan
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