Felix de Roy: a life of variable stars

Abstract

Felix de Roy (1883-1942), an internationality recognised amateur astronomer, made significant contributions to variable star research. As an active observer, he made some 91,000 visual estimates of a number of different variable stars. A Belgian national, he took refuge in England during World War 1. While there, de Roy became well enough known to later serve as Director of the BAA Variable Star Section for seventeen years. Through this office, and his connections with other organisations around the world, he encouraged others to pursue the observation of variable stars. Not merely content to accumulate observational data, de Roy also analysed the data and published numerous papers.