William Tyler Olcott (January 11, 1873–July 6, 1936) was an American lawyer and

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers ...

. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to William Marvin Olcott and E. Octavia Tyler, and was educated at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, then attended law school in New York. Although admitted to the bar in New York and Connecticut, he never practiced law. In 1902, he was married to Clara Hyde. During 1905 while vacationing in Rhode Island, a friend of Clara introduced him to the stars and constellations. He was instantly enthralled, and two years later had published his first book, ''A Field Book of the Stars''. In 1909, after attending a lecture by

Edward Charles Pickering Edward Charles Pickering (July 19, 1846 – February 3, 1919) was an American astronomer and physicist and the older brother of William Henry Pickering. Along with Carl Vogel, Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. He wrote ' ...

, he developed an interest in observing

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

s. In 1911, he co-founded the

American Association of Variable Star Observers The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international nonprofit organization, founded in 1911, focused on coordinating, analyzing, publishing, and archiving variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers. ...

(AAVSO). Olcott also wrote six books to popularize the field of amateur astronomy.

Awards and honors

* AAVSO Merit Award (1936) * The William Tyler Olcott Award of the AAVSO, initiated in 2000, is named for him. * The crater Olcott on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after him.

Bibliography

Books * W. T. Olcott, ''A Field Book of the Stars,'' 1907, New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons * W. T. Olcott, ''In Starland With A Three-Inch Telescope,'' 1909, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons * W. T. Olcott, ''Star Lore of All Ages,'' 1911, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons * W. T. Olcott, ''Sun Lore of All Ages,'' 1914, New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons * W. T. Olcott, ''The Book of the Stars For Young People,'' 1923, New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons * W. T. Olcott & Edmund W. Putnam, ''Field Book of the Skies,'' 1929, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons Articles * W. T. Olcott, "Variable Star Work for the Amateur Astronomer," 1911, ''Popular Astronomy''

References

External links

* * * * *
Sun Lore of All Ages, at sacred-texts.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olcott, William Tyler 1873 births 1936 deaths American astronomers Amateur astronomers