Advancing Variable Star Astronomy Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART I PIONEERS IN VARIABLE STAR ASTRONOMY PRIOR TO 1909
- PART II THE FOUNDING OF THE AAVSO – THE WILLIAM TYLER OLCOTT ERA
- PART III RECORDING AND CLASSIFICATION – THE LEON CAMPBELL ERA
- PART IV THE SERVICE BUREAU – THE MARGARET MAYALL ERA
- 10 Learning about independence
- 11 Eviction from Harvard College Observatory
- 12 Actions and reactions
- 13 In search of a home
- 14 Survival on Brattle Street
- 15 AAVSO achievements
- 16 Breathing room on Concord Avenue
- PART V ANALYSIS AND SCIENCE – THE JANET MATTEI ERA
- PART VI ACCELERATING OBSERVATIONAL SCIENCE – THE ARNE HENDEN ERA
- Appendix A AAVSO historiographic notes
- Appendix B Top AAVSO observer totals
- Appendix C Variable star observing groups represented in the AAVSO International Database
- Appendix D AAVSO Awards
- Appendix E Officers of the AAVSO
- Appendix F AAVSO Council members
- Appendix G AAVSO Scientific committee, section, division, and program chairs
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
16 - Breathing room on Concord Avenue
from PART IV - THE SERVICE BUREAU – THE MARGARET MAYALL ERA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART I PIONEERS IN VARIABLE STAR ASTRONOMY PRIOR TO 1909
- PART II THE FOUNDING OF THE AAVSO – THE WILLIAM TYLER OLCOTT ERA
- PART III RECORDING AND CLASSIFICATION – THE LEON CAMPBELL ERA
- PART IV THE SERVICE BUREAU – THE MARGARET MAYALL ERA
- 10 Learning about independence
- 11 Eviction from Harvard College Observatory
- 12 Actions and reactions
- 13 In search of a home
- 14 Survival on Brattle Street
- 15 AAVSO achievements
- 16 Breathing room on Concord Avenue
- PART V ANALYSIS AND SCIENCE – THE JANET MATTEI ERA
- PART VI ACCELERATING OBSERVATIONAL SCIENCE – THE ARNE HENDEN ERA
- Appendix A AAVSO historiographic notes
- Appendix B Top AAVSO observer totals
- Appendix C Variable star observing groups represented in the AAVSO International Database
- Appendix D AAVSO Awards
- Appendix E Officers of the AAVSO
- Appendix F AAVSO Council members
- Appendix G AAVSO Scientific committee, section, division, and program chairs
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The AAVSO that we see today, a thriving and financially independent organization still devoted to its original aims and purposes, would delight Leon Campbell. We are now assured that the Association will indeed “grow, and grow, and grow” thanks above all to the determined efforts and unfailing devotion of its retiring Director Margaret W. Mayall.
– Clinton B. Ford, 1973Margaret Mayall and the AAVSO went through the remainder of the 1960s and early 1970s with few distractions and accomplishing many of the Association's goals.
During this time, Mayall expanded the number of observing program stars, issued new series of charts, formed new observing committees, began using modern computer data processing methods to compile and plot observations, and approved the start of new publications. Above all, she maintained a plodding attention to the fundamentals of the organization: collecting and plotting observations; disseminating them in the form of publications and request fulfillment; and chart production, revision, and comparison star sequence evaluation.
By these steps the work of the AAVSO continued to grow – and that itself could be called Mayall's greatest accomplishment as Director. This chapter follows the history of the Association in a new headquarters location, the expansion of observer programs and publications efforts by its members, and how it finally reached financial stability.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Advancing Variable Star AstronomyThe Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, pp. 219 - 234Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011