This biography covers the life of Lewis Swift (1820-1913), who discovered 13 comets and nearly 1,200 other deep sky objects. All 13 comets found by Swift now bear his name, including three periodic comets with periods of 6 years (11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR), 9 years (64P/Swift-Gehrels), and 133 years (109P/Swift-Tuttle).

Swift's enthusiasm and success as an amateur astronomer helped make him famous in the United States. With the help of others, Swift was able to buy a 16-inch refractor, the third largest telescope in the United States at the time. Hulbert Harrington Warner built "Warner Observatory" to house this telescope. As a prolific writer and lecturer, Swift's stories appeared in newspapers and magazines, while his lectures showed that he was able to explain anything in a way that everyone could understand.

When Warner went broke during the "Panic of 1893," Swift was forced to leave his home. Almost two dozen invitations arrived from around the United States asking him to bring his telescope to their city, and he eventually accepted the invitation of Californian Thaddeus Sobieski Constantin Lowe.

This book highlights Swift's valuable contributions to astronomy before failing eyesight forced him to give up this profession. In addition to detailing Swift's life, biographical material is also provided for a number of individuals who were influenced by Swift. This includes his son, Edward, who was discovering deep sky objects as a teenager.

Autorentext
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.

Inhalt
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.