Lewis Swift

Gary W. Kronk received his Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He has been employed at Washington University at St. Louis since 1985, where he is a programmer analyst, and occasionally teaches classes on software programs. Observing, researching, and writing about comets is an activity the author has participated in for most of his life, with over 2,000 observations of over 130 comets. He is the author of seven titles, and has been published in “Sky & Telescope,” “Astronomy,” “Icarus,” “the Journal of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers” and more. His books include “Comets: A Descriptive Catalog” (Enslow Publishers, 1984), “Meteor Showers” (Enslow, 1988), and a six volume series title “Cometography” with Cambridge University Press. The 5th volume was published in 2010. In 2004, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center announced that minor planet number 48300 was being giventhe name “Kronk” in honor of the author’s extensive research for his Cometography series.

• Chapter 1: Family and Swift's Early Years.- Chapter 2: Swift Steps into Astronomy.- Chapter 3: Duffy's Cider Mill.- Chapter 4: The Solar Eclipse of July 29, 1878. Chapter 5: Warner Observatory: A Dream Becomes Reality.- Chapter 6: Celebrity and Its Consequences.- Chapter 7: Edward Emerson Barnard.- Chapter 8: Swift's Heyday of Discovery.- Chapter 9: Growing Dissatisfaction at Warner Observatory.- Chapter 10: A Mountain Resort and Lowe Observatory.- Chapter 11: A Few of Swift's Favorite Things.- Chapter 12: The Final Years.- Chapter 13: Swift's Legacy.- Chapter 14: Annotations for Swift's Catalogs.- Swift's Deep Sky Catalogs.- List of Abbreviations Used in the NGC and IC Descriptions.- Index.