American Astronomy: Community, Careers, And Power, 1859-1940

American Astronomy: Community, Careers, and Power, 1859-1940

In this collective biography of the more than 1,200 individuals who engaged in astronomicalresearch, teaching, or practice in the United States between 1859 and 1940, John Lankfordpaints a meticulously documented portrait of this community. He tallies the number with andwithout doctorates, the number that taught in colleges or universities versus those involved inindustrial or government work, the number of women versus men, and so on. He alsoaddresses the crucial question of power within the community-what it meant, whichastronomers had it, and what they did with it.Drawing on more than a decade of archival research, Lankford attends to the numbers inconcise tables and figures, and takes care to focus through biographical sketches on thehuman beings his data represent. This dual approach convincingly illustrates how the changingstructure of a scientific community can alter both the career trajectories of its members and thenature of the scientific research they choose to pursue.