Illinois--Where Astronomical Photometry Grew Up

Volume 40 number 1 (2012)

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Barry B. Beaman

6804 Alvina Road, Rockford, IL 61101; praesepe44@aol.com

Michael T. Svec

Furman University, Department of Education, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville SC 29613; Internet: michael.svec@furman.edu

Abstract

In 1903 Dr. Joel Stebbins joined the University of Illinois faculty as an astronomy instructor and Director of the University of Illinois Observatory. In 1905 he and F. C. Brown began experimenting with selenium sell photometry and developed the equipment and many of the photometric practices used then. Those practices formed the foundation on which present day photometry processes are based. This paper will trace the history of Stebbins’ career and his development of photoelectric photometry from 1903 to 1922. This story explains how Stebbins’ wife, May, caused a change in astronomical observing that continues today.