Childhood in New York City; studying astronomy and literature at Harvard University (1925-1929, M.A. 1930); work during the Depression in real estate and at Columbia University; graduate education in the new astrophysics at Harvard, 1934-1937, contacts with Harlow Shapley, Cecilia Payne (Gaposchkin), Henry N. Russell; work at Yerkes Observatory from 1937: nebular spectroscopy, stellar composition, stellar atmospheres; contacts with Otto Struve, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Bengt Strm̲gren; optical design work during World War II. Move to Caltech, 1947, contacts with Walter Baade, Ira Bowen, Fritz Zwicky, Maarten Schmidt, Lee Dubridge, etc.; organization, administration, research conditions, and allocation of observing time at Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories; work in building up astronomy department at Caltech, character of staff relations, and fund-raising. Postwar work on abundances of elements, white dwarf stars, high-dispersion spectroscopy, radio astronomy, and quasars; ideas about cosmology and other topics. Involvement with military advising at Caltech from 1950, satellite reconnaissance, and industrial advising; early work on rocket astronomy and as senior adviser to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), ca. 1957-1977. Editor of "Stellar Atmospheres" series; work with National Academy of Sciences and author of its 1972 astronomy survey; efforts to popularize astronomy. Ideas about large space- and ground-based telescopes. Particular attention is given to the organizational strengths and weaknesses of important astronomy organizations. Also prominently mentioned is: Alexander Velikovsky.