Astro Communications Services
Astro Communications Services, the original company that
attempted to computerize astrology, was founded as Astro
Computing Services in 1973 in White Plains, New York, by Neil
Franklin Michelsen, a systems engineer with IBM. He began
work on astrology in 1971 with a computer in his home and inputted
the data for the planetary positions for each day of the
year through the twentieth century and then for the daily
changes in the astrological houses. The primary tool that an
astrologer needs for the construction of a horoscope are the
ephemeris (which shows the position of the planets day-by-day)
and the table of houses (which shows how the astrological houses
are divided on the chart). In 1976, Michelsen published the
first editions of an American ephemeris and a table of houses.
That same year he also left his position at IBM to nurture his
new company full time.
Michelsen moved to San Diego in 1979 and three years later
reorganized the company as a California corporation, Astro
Communications Services, and created its publishing arm, ACS
Publications. The company grew off of the continually expanding
editions of his reference books, which came to include
ephemerises covering a variety of astrological needs, including
midpoints and Haleys Comet. He also produced a separate
ephemeris for those astrologers who work from a heliocentric
(sun-centered) astrological system.
Following Michelsons death in 1990, Maria Kaye Simms,
his widow, assumed control of the company. She led the growing
enterprise, which now sells a range of astrological accessories,
until 1998 when ACS was sold to Great Wisdom Publishing.
At that time Simms was succeeded by David Reecher as
CEO. Simms remains on the ACS board.
Astro Communications Services is headquartered at 5521
Ruffin Rd., San Diego, CA 92123. It maintains an expansive Internet
site at httpwww.astrocom.com.
Sources
Astro Communications Services. httpwww.astrocom.com.
May 23, 2000.
