Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
THEOBALD, John Adams
THEOBALD, John Adams (Rev.). (Meyer, IA, Aug. 25, 1888-Unknown). Professor, LORAS COLLEGE. Student groups led by Theobald studied Leonid meteor showers and made observations that were studied by Japanese and French astronomers and used for future astronomical computations. Theobald, in cooperation with Professor C. C. Wylie of the University of Iowa, charted paths of fireballs and published many articles on the subject beginning in 1927. In 1932 he led an expedition to Quebec, Canada, to study the directions of shadow bounds during total solar eclipses.
In 1931 Theobald, chaplain of the Dubuque Archdiocesan committee on scouting organized the first Catholic troops of BOY SCOUTS west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Theobald pioneered Boy Scout camp retreats, an idea that has received national acceptance.