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- Title
Frederick C. Leonard: A history and personal recollections.
- Authors
Leonard, Frederick D.
- Abstract
Abstract: As a child Frederick C. Leonard displayed such a precocious aptitude for astronomy that he became known as “Chicago's Boy Astronomer.” But within a decade after receiving his Ph.D., his interests had turned to meteorites. He persuaded Harvey Nininger to help him found the Society for Research on Meteorites, later renamed The Meteoritical Society, in 1933—a time when the study of meteorites was not considered a worthy pursuit of serious scientists. He nurtured the Society and held it together through the Great Depression, World War II, a destructive feud, and a significant personal and family crisis. He obtained legitimacy and affiliation for the Society with mainstream scientific organizations. He was its first President, and he was Editor of its publications from the Society's founding until a year before his death in 1960. Through it all he was a persistent advocate for the importance of the study of meteorites and the legitimacy of meteoritics as a valuable field of science.
- Subjects
LEONARD, Charles Frederick; ASTRONOMY; METEORITES; METEORS; SCIENTIFIC community
- Publication
Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 2018, Vol 53, Issue 3, p359
- ISSN
1086-9379
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/maps.13015