Leslie C. Peltier
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member FallenFaery
N 40° 50.617 W 084° 20.555
16T E 724032 N 4524796
Located on Second Street in Delphos
Waymark Code: WMGFJ
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 07/05/2006
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member BlackBrownDog
Views: 35

Marker text:

A farm boy with a tenth grade education, Leslie Peltier, born near Delphos in 1900, achieved fame as one of the most famous astronomers of the twentieth century. In 1916, he raised $18 dollars by picking 900 quarts of strawberries on his father's farm in order to purchase his first telescope. His stargazing abilities led Harvard Observatory's Dr. Harlow Shapley to proclaim him "the world's greatest non-professional astronomer." During his 65 years of stargazing, Leslie Peltier discovered 12 comets and two novae and made 132,000 variable star observations. Peltier made his discoveries on his homemade "merry-go-round" observatory that rotated on a child's merry-go-round track and housed the optics from a 6-inch, f/8 telescope on loan from Princeton University. To recognize his achievements, the Astronomical League created the annual Leslie C. Peltier Award in 1980 to recognize an amateur astronomer who contributed to astronomy observations of lasting significance.

Marker Number: 5-81

County: Van Wert

Significance of Location: Person

Bicentenial Mark: no

Website address: [Web Link]

Additional Coordinate: Not Listed

Additional Coordinate description: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
If possible, unique photographs taken at the site, are requested. These can be of the site, your companions on your visit, or whatever. Tell of what you learned or thought of the site.
Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest Ohio Historical Markers
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
Date Logged Log User Rating  
ModernMagi visited Leslie C. Peltier 08/22/2012 ModernMagi visited it
FallenFaery visited Leslie C. Peltier 07/04/2006 FallenFaery visited it

View all visits/logs