| Frank K. Edmondson |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT FRANK K. EDMONDSON | |
| 1912 births | |
| edmondson, frank k. | |
| living people | |
| american astronomers | |
| indiana university alumni | |
| indiana university faculty | |
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LIFE AND CAREER Edmondson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Seymour, Indiana . He graduated from Indiana University in 1933 and received a fellowship to work at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona , where he stayed until 1935 , working as an observing assistant to Clyde Tombaugh , discoverer of the Dwarf Planet Pluto . After earning his Ph.D. under the direction of Bart Bok at Harvard University in 1937 , Edmondson returned to Indiana University as a faculty member in the department of astronomy. In 1944 , he become the department's chair, a position he held until 1978 . An early accomplishment of Edmondson's was the creation of the Indiana Asteroid Program , a photographic program to locate Asteroid s that were "lost" when systematic observations were interrupted by World War II . He also negotiated the donation of the privately-owned Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana to Indiana University. Nearly 7000 Photographic Plate s for asteroid orbit studies were taken with a 10-inch Astrographic camera at the Goethe Link Observatory. These plates are now archived at Lowell Observatory. In addition to pursuing studies in Stellar Kinematics , Galactic structure, asteroid Astrometry and the history of astronomy, Edmondson served as Program Director for Astronomy of the National Science Foundation ( 1956 - 1957 ), treasurer of the American Astronomical Society ( 1954 - 1975 ) and statistical advisor to Dr. Alfred Kinsey during his studies of human sexuality. He also advised in the development and site selection of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories , which include the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona , the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile and the National Solar Observatory in New Mexico . He was also instrumental in creating the Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy (AURA), a consortium of seven universities that manages the three observatories plus the Space Telescope Science Institute which directs research with the Hubble Space Telescope . He was AURA's president from 1962 to 1965 . He was a member of the Minor Planet Commission of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and was its president from 1970 to 1973 . He chaired the United States National Committee of the IAU from 1963 to 1964 . Since his retirement from Indiana University in 1983 , Edmondson has devoted himself to compiling histories of AURA and the Indiana University astronomy department. The asteroid 1761 Edmondson is named for him. PERSONAL LIFE In 1934 , Edmondson married Emma Margaret Russell ( 1914 - 1999 ), the youngest daughter of astronomer Henry Norris Russell . They had two children. BOOK
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