Twentieth-Century Amateur Astronomy

Extract

Little distinction was drawn between amateur and professional astronomers for much of the nineteenth century. They mixed in the same scientific societies and often carried out overlapping studies. Towards the end of the century, however, new factors arose - increasing expense of instrumentation, increasing sophistication of theoretical knowledge, etc., which led to a greater degree of differentiation. It was then that societies specifically aimed at amateurs were established. The split has never been complete – professionals have always been members of amateur societies and vice versa - but a gap between amateur and professional opened up and has continued since. Amateurs of the standing of Percival Lowell, who could compete with professionals both in terms of equipment and theoretical knowledge, effectively died out before the mid-twentieth century.