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The First Assignment

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Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science

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Abstract

By the end of Agnes Scott College’s spring semester in 1913, its Professor Olivier had been away from practical astronomy for two years.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The course catalogs are archived in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

  2. 2.

    Letter from Eddington to Olivier, dated September 9, 1913; and letter from W.H. Wesley to Olivier, dated September 29, 1913. Source: Courtesy of the American Meteor Society Ltd. Archives.

  3. 3.

    Letter from Abbe to Olivier, dated October 9, 1913. Source: Courtesy of the American Meteor Society Ltd. Archives.

  4. 4.

    Letter from Abbe to Barnard, dated October 15, 1913 and a letter from Abbe to Olivier dated October 24, 1913. Source: Courtesy of the American Meteor Society Ltd. Archives.

  5. 5.

    Royal Society of London (compiler), Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 4th series (1884–1900), Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Reprint Corp., 1968., pp. 560–565. Altogether, 273 of Denning’s astronomy-related articles were compiled in this catalog spanning the years 1878–1901. As impressive as this output was, Denning published still more articles before 1878 and after 1901: e.g., The Royal Society of London’s catalog for 1874–1883 lists 48 of Denning’s observational reports.

  6. 6.

    Beech, M., An Astronomer’s Life; In Quest of Meteors, Chap. 1, p. 5 published by author; and Phillips, Theodore Evelyn Reece, Rev., William Frederick Denning Obituary, Observatory, Volume 54, no 689, 1931, pp. 277.

  7. 7.

    Beech, M., W.F. Denning- The Doyen of Amateur Astronomers, WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Society, Volume 26, 1998, pp. 22.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Wells, H.G., War of the Worlds, 1898. Wells used the incorrect term “‘meteorites” instead of “meteors.”

  10. 10.

    In his textbook’s section “How to Observe a Meteoric Shower”, Howe, by way of a footnote, directed students to articles by “W.F. Denning in Popular Astronomy 1893”. Howe, Herbert Alonzo, Elements of Descriptive Astronomy, a text book. Boston: Silver, Burdett and Co., 1897, p. 221.

  11. 11.

    Payne, W. W., Important Astronomical Work in Progress, Popular Astronomy, 1904, volume 12, p. 48.

  12. 12.

    W.F. Denning, General Catalog of Meteor Showers, etc., Memoirs RAS, vol 53, p.203–204.

  13. 13.

    Olivier, C.P., Obituary, Observatory, volume 54, no. 689, 1931, pp. 282–3.

  14. 14.

    F.T.M. Stratton, General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union, informed Charles Olivier, on August 9, 1925, that he had been elected to serve as President of Commission 22 in the aftermath of W.F. Denning’s resignation. Olivier accepted the post in a letter to Stratton dated November 19, 1925. Both letters are contained in the Olivier correspondence collection of The American Philosophical Society.

  15. 15.

    Denning, W., Shooting stars, how to observe them and what they teach us, (A series of articles in) Popular Astronomy, Volume 1, September 1893 to June 1894. Pp. 34-38, 67-71 [p 68 has direction to use a “a perfectly straight rod or wand” to trace a meteor’s sky path in order to accurately chart it]; 97–102; 147–151; 208–211 [This article was about “Radiation and Duration of Meteor Showers”]; 267–272; 296–299; 345–348; and 438–440.

  16. 16.

    Olivier, C., 1931, op. cit., pp. 282–283.

  17. 17.

    Denning, WF, Suspected repetition, or second outbursts from radiant points; and on the long duration of meteor showers. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), volume 38, 1878, pp. 111–114; and Denning, A Catalogue of 222 stationary meteors, MNRAS, volume 39, 1879, pp. 406–424.

  18. 18.

    Olivier reported that he first became “greatly interested” in the SR issue in 1904 when he was a 20-year-old junior classman at University of Virginia: Meteors, p. 96.

  19. 19.

    Olivier, CP, Report of the Committee on Meteors, Popular Astronomy, Volume 26, 1918, p. 18.

  20. 20.

    Olivier, C., Meteors, 1925, pp. 90–92 and Popular Astronomy, volume 26, 1918, pp. 18–20.

  21. 21.

    Olivier, C., Popular Astronomy, volume 26, 1918, p. 19.

  22. 22.

    Olivier, C., Mr. A. King’s Catalogue of Radiant Points of Shooting Stars, 1898–1915, Observatory, volume 39, August 1916, p. 334.

  23. 23.

    Olivier, C., Meteors, pp. 90–91 and Popular Astronomy, Volume 26, 1918, pp. 18–20. These sources contain the recommendations in their entirety.

  24. 24.

    In Meteors, p. 56, the meteoric apex is defined as “the point toward which the earth is directed in its motion around the sun” This point was measured in degrees of longitude along the ecliptic. Today, the practice is to use another quantity, “solar longitude”, also known as “heliocentric longitude,”s the position of the earth on its orbit which it occupies on a particular day and time as measured in degrees from the March equinox.

  25. 25.

    Is there a definition difference between “reduce” and “deduce?” Olivier used “reduce” and “deduce” interchangeably. Whichever term is used the procedure is the same: radiants result from meteor plots on star maps and orbits are calculated from radiants.

  26. 26.

    I am using the title “‘professor” for two reasons. The most concrete one is that in fact Olivier’s entire professional career was as a college and university professor. The second reason is clearest when he addressed the SR issue and argued his opposition to it with mathematical, astronomical, and scientific objections. In the SR conflict and in his approach to colleagues, Olivier’s identity was that of the academic professor, and he was adept at wielding the authority that the role had.

  27. 27.

    King, A., MNRAS, Volume 86, 1926, pp. 638–641.

  28. 28.

    Page 92. The author could not find a confirmatory statement from the BAA Meteor Section’s Director, J.P.M. Prentice in his report about the Meteor Section’s activities for the year October 1, 1924–September 30, 1925. Prentice’s report was brief and only mentioned that poor weather had interfered greatly with observations and that the Section would continue with visual work “on the lines hitherto followed.” Prentice, J., Meteor Section in Report of the Council on the Work of the Session, October 1, 1924–September 30, 1925, Journal of the British Astronomical Association (JBAA), Volume 35, 1925, p. 298.

  29. 29.

    Denning, W., Autumnal Meteors, Observatory, Volume 54, 1931, p. 272.

  30. 30.

    Olivier, C., Letter, published in: Observatory, Volume 54, 1931, pp. 282–3.

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    Richard Taibi

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Taibi, R. (2017). The First Assignment. In: Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44518-2_3

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