Ok, let's take a little dive into some of the nifty things in this photo! 1/19 https://twitter.com/smailtronic/status/1352360664229097475

This is the group photo from the 50th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, a joint meeting with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For simplicity, we just call them by their initials, @aaas and @AAS_Office 2/19

Because the meeting was held on the grounds of the Century of Progress International Exposition (aka the Chicago World's Fair without the serial killer), attendees had to pay $0.50 every day just to access the planetarium. That's on top of the $1.00 conference registration! 3/19

Front and center we find the meeting hosts, Philip Fox and Maude Bennot of the Adler Planetarium. Philip was the Adler's first Director, and at the time, Maude was his research assistant. 4/19

During the conference, Fox put out a call for old and decrepit instruments that could pass into 'honorable retirement' in the Astronomical Museum. Domes that rolled on cannonballs, and had hinged/shuttered openings were suggested as valuable museum pieces. 5/19

When Fox left the Adler in 1937, Bennot took the reins for the next eight years. Sadly, she was forced out by the Park District at the end of WW2. 6/19 https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/blog/meet-maude-bennot-the-woman-behind-the-adler/

Next to Bennot, we find noted astronomer Annie Jump Cannon. The second pic depicts Philip Fox, Cannon and other astronomers from an earlier Adler visit in 1930. Cannon authored the modern stellar classification system, among other achievements. 7/19

At the 1933 Conference, Cannon received a $1000 prize from the Association to aid Scientific Work by Women. She took that prize money and used it to endow a future prize for women's astronomical achievement. 8/19

On the far left, we find Daniel Morehouse. While observing at Wisconsin's Yerkes Observatory, Morehouse discovered a comet. According to Fox, he was a frequent lecturer at Adler and 'no astronomer was inquired after more frequently.' 9/19

One of Morehouse's kids was named Vega (cool), Morehouse and his wife's ashes are interred at Iowa's Drake Municipal Observatory (spooky), and his comet has a sandwich named after it (delicious). 10/19 https://www.erbertandgerberts.com/sandwiches/comet-morehouse/

Hiding in the back we find Wilbur Adelman Cogshall. Cogshall was an astronomer most known for the decidely non-astornomical task of locating the population center of the US, which he did for the first 5 decades of the 1900s. 11/19

Cogshall also is notable for getting fellow Hoosier astronomer Vesto Slipher hired at Lowell Observatory. Slipher discovered redshift in galaxies, hired Clyde Tombaugh, and oversaw his Pluto-related work. Slipher was at this meeting but missed/isn't ID'd in the group photo. 12/19

These are aliens. 13/19

At the conference, Canadian astronomer Joseph Algernon Pearce presented a paper on galactic rotation. Just two years later he would determine, with decent accuracy, the Sun's distance from the center of the Milky Way, and the time it takes the Sun to orbit our galaxy. 14/19

Also in attendance (but not pictured) was galactic astronomer Harlow Shapley. In 1920 Shapley went head to head with Heber Curtis in the Great Debate. I'm unsure if Curtis attended the conference, but his son (and observing assistant) Baldwin did. 15/19

Shapley was subpoenad by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The Chair described him like so: 'I have never seen a witness treat a committee with more contempt'. Shapley rightly decried the HUAC as making "civic cowards of many citizens." 16/19 https://tonyortega.org/red-scare-astronomer-harlow-shapley-reshaped-the-universe-but-the-fbi-considered-him-a-risk/

These are nuns. 17/19

The Adler doesn't have that slick art-deco PLANETARIUM sign any more. it was a temporary install to make it easier for Fair attendees to identify the building. 18/19

There are probably lots of more cool stories hidden in that photo, but that's enough for now. Thanks for reading! 19/19