Amateur

When a layman drops in at the Harvard College Observatory and wants to know about the equipment, he is usually told: "Ask Mr. Campbell." In his 50 years at the observatory, white-thatched Leon Campbell has made his reputation largely through his work with interested amateurs. In fact, he himself got into astronomy by being an interested amateur.

Campbell's formal training consists of one course in astronomy in his senior year in high school; he did not go to college. But he had so much enthusiasm for astronomy that when he was offered a job as "dome assistant" at the observatory a year later (1899), he jumped at the chance. It was a sort of clerk's job, calling for long hours of jotting down star observations. Leon Campbell soon impressed his superiors with his independent work, and in 1905 he was made a regular member of the observatory staff.

While he was in charge of the observatory's station in Arequipa, Peru, Campbell began intensive work with amateur astronomers. Cut off from the rest of the world, he began to correspond with observers all over the U.S. Today, as permanent recording secretary for the American Association of Variable Star Observers, Campbell receives some 3,000 reports on observations a month from the 250 members in all parts of the world. In the past 37 years he has collected and plotted nearly 1,150,000 such reports.

Last week Harvard honored Leon Campbell for "his coordination of the findings of amateur stargazers" by presenting him with an honorary Master of Arts. Amateur Campbell also announced that he expected to retire as Pickering Memorial Astronomer, a special post created to further Campbell's work with amateurs. As for the future: "I'm not going to quit astronomical work--just carry on in a more leisurely fashion . . ."

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