Peter Millman and the study of meteor spectra at Harvard University

During the 1930s meteor astronomy entered a new era when the Canadian astronomer, Peter Millman, began investigating the spectra of meteors for his post-graduate studies at Harvard University. Whilst experimenting with different lenses, prisms, shutters, photographic plates, and observational techniques, Millman constructed a number of different meteor spectrographs, and by conducting systematic photographic surveys between November 1931 and February 1933 almost tripled the number of meteor spectra known to exist. Through these efforts, in less than two years he was responsible for single-handedly launching a whole new field of meteor investigation