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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_astronomy#Notable_amateur_astronomersNotable amateur astronomers
George Alcock, discoverer of comets and novae.
Thomas Bopp, shared the discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1995 with unemployed PhD physicist Alan Hale.
Robert Burnham, Jr., author of the Celestial Handbook.
Andrew Ainslie Common (1841–1903), built his own very large reflecting telescopes and demonstrated that photography could record astronomical features invisible to the human eye.
Robert E. Cox (1917–1989) who conducted the "Gleanings for ATMs" column in Sky and Telescope magazine for 21 years.
John Dobson (1915), whose name is associated with the Dobsonian telescope, a simplified design for Newtonian reflecting telescopes.
Robert Owen Evans is a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia and an amateur astronomer who holds the all-time record for visual discoveries of supernovae.
Clinton B. Ford (1913–1992), who specialized in the observation of variable stars.
Will Hay, the famous comedian and actor, who discovered a white spot on Saturn.
Walter Scott Houston (1912–1993) who wrote the "Deep-Sky Wonders" column in Sky & Telescope magazine for almost 50 years.
Albert G. Ingalls (1888–1958), editor of Amateur Telescope Making, Vols. 1–3 and "The Amateur Scientist". He and Russell Porter are generally credited with having initiated the amateur telescope making movement in the U. S.
David H. Levy discovered or co-discovered 22 comets including Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, the most for any individual.
Sir Patrick Moore, presenter of the BBC's long-running The Sky at Night and author of many books on astronomy.
Leslie Peltier was a prolific discoverer of comets and well-known observer of variable stars.
John M. Pierce (1886–1958) was one of the founders of the Springfield Telescope Makers. In the 1930s he published a series of 14 articles on telescope making in Hugo Gernsback's "Everyday Science and Mechanics" called "Hobbygraphs". He is considered one of "the big three behind the amateur telescope making movement in America."[1]
Tim Puckett, the principal investigator of the Puckett Observatory World Supernova Search team, which has discovered over 200 supernovae since 1998.
Russell W. Porter founded Stellafane and has been referred to as the "founder"[2][3] or one of the "founders" of amateur telescope making." Albert G. Ingalls is sometime given credit as co-founder of this movement[4]
Isaac Roberts, early experimenter in astronomical photography.
Grote Reber (1911–2002), pioneer of radio astronomy constructing the first purpose built radio telescope and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequency.
Prizes recognizing amateur astronomers
Amateur Achievement Award of Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Astronomical League Award
Blair Medal of the Western Amateur Astronomers
Chambliss Amateur Achievement Award
