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Seeing in the Dark (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)

Through most of the twentieth century, there have been clear qualitative differences between the research of professional astronomers, who pursued the study of the planets, stars, and galaxies for a living, and that of amateur astronomers, for whom such study was an avocation—even though in some cases it was an all-consuming avocation. Professional research became increasingly dependent upon expensive telescopes, laboratory equipment, sophisticated mathematical skills, and knowledge of auxiliary disciplines such as physics and chemistry. The symbol of professional astronomical...

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