Eclipsing Binary Stars: Past, Present, and Future

A brief history of eclipsing binary star light curve analysis and an overview of the current state of affairs is given. The photometric searches for extra-solar planets in the next few years will eventually result in millions of light curves and such volumes of data will require the efforts of amateur astronomers in their analysis. This article is a thinly veiled plea to AAVSO members to join the current efforts of a few AAVSO members in the observation and analysis of eclipsing binary stars.