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The "pre-embryonic" state of the AAVSO: Amateur observers of variable stars in the United States from 1875 to 1911

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Michael Saladyga

AAVSO Headquarters

25 Birch Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

Presented at the 87th Annual Meeting of the AAVSO, October 31, 1998

Abstract

For 35 years before the formation of the AAVSO, independent amateur variable star astronomers in the United States were making significant contributions to the field. Skilled, dedicated individuals like S. C. Chandler, E. F. Sawyer, and P. S. Yendell laid the foundation in variable star work that was expanded upon by Harvard College Observatory Director E. C. Pickering, under whose direction a new generation of enthusiastic amateur and professional astronomers continued to further the cause of variable star research. This paper is a survey of the contributions made by several independent amateur variable star astronomers, and it is also a chronology of the growth of a broader, more popularized, amateur involvement in variable star astronomy which led to the organization of the AAVSO in 1911.

Link to ADS abstract, article and citation information [5]