ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

William H. Pickering's Society of the International Associated Observers of Mars, 1915-1930

• In Event: Histories of 19th and 20th Century Astronomy

English Abstract

In the closing years of the Martian canal controversy, an international community of astronomers formed to carry out Martian astronomy when leading observatories sought to apply their energies elsewhere. The Society of the International Associated Observers of Mars, led by William Henry Pickering, was a group whose work was to produce, collect, and report Martian planetary data between 1915 and 1930. Dominant historiographical narratives argue that planetary research, like Martian astronomy, was abandoned by astronomers or left in the care of amateurs in the twentieth century. This talk argues, however, that the work and membership of the Associated Observers (AOs) demonstrates not only an enduring planetary fascination centred on Mars, but one that involved a variety of practitioners, from enthusiasts to salaried observers. While major observatories largely elected to shelve the question of life on Mars, Pickering used the work of the AOs to advance a flurry of theories that argued for its presence. As I argue in this talk, the work of the AOs then simultaneously anticipated the form of planetary science that flourished with Space Age technologies. As an international community of limited success, I examine how the AOs further raise questions about distinctions between "amateur" and "professional" astronomers, especially in view of the aims and composition of Pickering's group. This talk shows that this hitherto unexamined community was the continuator of Martian astronomy after the canal controversy, while complicating historiographical narratives of planetary research in the twentieth century.

Author

• Solomon Hajramezan, University of Cambridge