Leon Campbell (astronomer)

Leon Campbell (January 20, 1881 in Cambridge, Massachusetts[1]– May 10, 1951)[2] was an American astronomer.

Career

He is noted for his observations of variable stars at the Harvard College Observatory.[3][4] He served as Recorder of Observations for the AAVSO from its earliest days in 1915, and continued until his retirement in the 1940s.[5] (The title was later changed to Director of the AAVSO.) He also published a number of papers and a pair of books on the topic of variable stars.

Awards and honors

  • Pickering Memorial Astronomer, circa 1931.[4]
  • AAVSO Merit Award, 1944.
  • The lunar crater Campbell is co-named for him and William W. Campbell.
  • Recipient of honorary degree of Master of Arts from Harvard University, 1949.[4]

Bibliography

  • Campbell, Leon and Jacchia, Luigi Giuseppe, "The story of variable stars", Philadelphia, The Blakiston company, 1941.
  • Campbell, Leon, "Studies of Long Period Variables", Cambridge, MA, AAVSO, 1955.

References

  1. ^ CAMPBELL, Leon, in Who's Who in America (1926 edition); p. 409
  2. ^ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  3. ^ "Science: Amateur". time.com. July 4, 1949. Retrieved December 8, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "LEON CAMPBELL". Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  5. ^ "LEON CAMPBELL HONORED; Harvard Astronomer Completes Fifty Years of Service". Archived from the original on 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2025-12-08.