Clyde Tombaugh

Clyde William Tombaugh
Tombaugh at his family's farm with his homemade telescope
Born(1906-02-04)February 4, 1906
Streator, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJanuary 17, 1997(1997-01-17) (aged 90)
Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationAstronomer
Known forDiscovery of Pluto

Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He discovered Pluto in 1930.

Biography

Tombaugh was born in a ranch near Streator, Illinois.[1] After his family moved to Burdett, Kansas, Tombaugh planned to attend college. A hailstorm ruined his family's farm crops, so he did not have money to pay for college.[2]

After he discovered Pluto, he went to college at the University of Kansas and graduated with two degrees in astronomy.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Tombaugh, Clyde; Patrick Moore (1980). Out of the Darkness: The Planet Pluto. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. pp. 17. ISBN 978-0-8117-1163-0. "I was born on a farm near Streator, Illinois, on 4 February 1906."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Clyde Tombaugh: A Man of Universal Wonder". American Academy of Achievement. September 9, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2010.

Sources

  • Falk, Dan, "More than a one-hit wonder", Astronomy, February 2006, 40–45.
  • David H. Levy Clyde Tombaugh: Discoverer of the Planet Pluto (Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1991). ISBN 0-8165-1148-9; also Sky Publishing Corporation, March 2006

Other websites