Stargazers

IAU Colloquium No. 98 "The Contribution of Amateurs to Astronomy" was held in Paris, at the "Chaillot-Galliera" Conference Centre, on 20-24 June, 1987. A total of 250 participants - professional and amateur astronomers - came from 27 different countries. It was the first time that such a meeting had been organized under the aus pices of the International Astronomical Union, and the arrangements in Paris were made by the Societe Astronomique de France, which was founded one hundred years previously by Camille Flammarion, so the 100th anniversary of the SAF was also celebrated. Nine commissions of the lAU co-sponsored the meeting; it also received support from the following associations: AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers), BAA (British Astro nomical Association), IOTA (International Occultation Timing Association), SRBA (Societe Royale BeIge d'Astronomie). The Chairman of the Scientific Organizing Committee was Prof. J. -C. Pecker, and the names of other members who shared in the work of organizing the Collo quium are: Dr P. Couteau (France), Cmdr H. D. Howse (U. K. ), Dr M. Gerbaldi (France), Prof. J. Kleczek (Czechoslovakia), Dr I. Kozai (Japan), Dr J. Mattei (U. S. A. ), Dr S. Nakano (Japan), Dr G. Taylor (U. K. ), Dr V. Trimble (U. S. A. ) The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee was Dr P. Simon, the then President of the SAF, who organized all the events in Paris, helped by P. de la Cotardiere and A. Chenevez.