Overview
- Fully researched with many references from the archives of the American Meteor Society
- Discusses the professional conflict between astrophysicists and the research interests of the American Meteor Society in the early twentieth century
- Includes details on the amateur observers who logged crucial meteor shower data for the AMS
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Springer Biographies (SPRINGERBIOGS)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Olivier and Meteor Astronomy 1884–1936
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Front Matter
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The Stalwarts’ Biographies
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
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 Society had succeeded in disproving an erroneous idea about meteor showers. Using careful observations, they restored the public’s trust in predictions about periodic showers and renewed respect for meteor astronomy among professional astronomers in the United States. Charles Olivier and his society of observers who were passionate about watching for meteors in the night sky left a major impact on the field.
In addition to describing Olivier’s career and describing his struggles with competitive colleagues in a hostile scientific climate, the author provides biographies of some of the scores of women and men of all ages who aided Olivier in making shower observations, from the Leonids and Perseids and others. Half of these amateur volunteers were from 13 to 25 years of age. Their work allowed Olivier and the AMS to contradict the fallacious belief in stationary and long-enduring meteor showers, bringing the theory of their origin into alignment with celestial mechanics. Thanks to Olivier and his collaborators, the study of meteors took a great leap forward in the twentieth century to earn a place as a worthy topic of study among professional astronomers.
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science
Authors: Richard Taibi
Series Title: Springer Biographies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44518-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Richard Taibi 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-44517-5Published: 29 March 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-83071-1Published: 18 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-44518-2Published: 25 November 2016
Series ISSN: 2365-0613
Series E-ISSN: 2365-0621
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXXII, 497
Number of Illustrations: 28 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, History of Science