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Frederick C. Leonard: A history and personal recollections
Author(s) -
Leonard Frederick D.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/maps.13015
Subject(s) - astronomer , feud , legitimacy , meteorite , great depression , mainstream , history , political science , law , politics , art history , astrobiology , physics
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.