Frederick Charles Leonard (March 12, 1896 – June 23, 1960) was an astrophysicist at the UCLA who organised the UCLA's Department of Astronomy. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 in 1918 and his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California at Berkeley in 1921.http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=1420. In 1923 he founded The Society for Research on Meteorites, the first name of the Meteoritical Society

Meteoritical Society

The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the origin and history of the solar system.The...

. In 1933 he became its first president and was the Editor of the Society's journal for the next 25 years.http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~afs/aug96_3.html. The Society instituted its premier award, the Leonard Medal

Leonard Medal

The Leonard Medal honors outstanding contributions to the science of meteoritics and closely allied fields. It is awarded by the Meteoritical Society. It was established in 1962 to honor the first President of the Society, Frederick C. Leonard....

in 1962 for outstanding contributions to the science of meteoritics and closely allied fields.