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New Mexico State University Board of Regents Medal (1980) Rittenhouse Medal (1990) Clyde William Tombaugh (/ ˈtɒmbaʊ /; February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He discovered the ninth planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt.
- Early Life and Educational Background
- Career
- War Time Career
- Interest in UFOs
- Personal Life and Latter Years
Clyde William Tombaugh was born on the 4th of February in 1906 in Streator, Illinois. His father was Muron Dealvo Tombaugh, a farmer and his mother was Adella Pearl Chritton. When he was an infant, his family moved to Burdett in Kansas. Unfortunately, his plan to go to college had to be postponed because of a hailstorm which ruined his family’s cro...
Tombaugh worked at the Lowell Observatory for 14 years, having impressed the astronomers who were working there with his drawings of Mars and Jupiter. It was his discovery of Pluto on the 18th of February, 1930 that earned him a permanent place in the roster of prominent astronomers. He made this discovery before he finished his degree. Tombaugh di...
Tombaugh worked for the Lowell Observatory until he was called for military service in 1943. During World War II, Clyde taught naval navigation for the U.S. Navy at Arizona State College for two years. When the war was over, he planned to return to the Lowell Observatory, but they were no longer able to hire him because of a shortage in funding. Co...
Clyde was the most notable astronomer to have actually reported seeing UFOs, supporting the extraterrestrial hypothesis. He described the UFOs he saw near Las Cruces in Mexico as having six to eight lights in rectangular shape which had astonished and petrified him. He also reported seeing unexplained green fireballs and had other sightings.
In his lifetime, Clyde made himself 30 telescopes, being unimpressed with store-bought ones. While he was working at Lowell Observatory, he met Patricia Edson in Arizona whom he married. They had two children, Alden and Annette. After his career in the White Sands Missile Range ended, he became a member of the New Mexico State University faculty un...
Feb 19, 2020 · Ninety years ago today, Clyde Tombaugh, a young astronomer working at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, discovered Pluto. In doing so he unknowingly opened the door to the vast "third zone ...
Mar 23, 2002 · Within days, Lowell Observatory was inundated with reporters, and Clyde Tombaugh was world famous. Today Clyde’s discovery would probably net the standard Warhol allotment of 15 minutes of fame ...
Feb 15, 2013 · From 1955 until he retired in 1973, he taught at New Mexico State University. Tombaugh passed away at his home in Las Cruces, N.M., on Jan. 17, 1997. An avid amateur astronomer. Unimpressed with ...
Jun 27, 2018 · Images of the Martian surface captured in the 1960s by the Mariner IV space probe confirmed Tombaugh's prediction. In 1946, Tombaugh began a relatively brief career as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army, working as an optical physicist and astronomer at White Sands Proving Grounds near Las Cruces , New Mexico , where the army was developing launching facilities for captured German V-2 missiles.
by Gemma Lavender, 11 January 2019. Clyde Tombaugh discovered dwarf planet Pluto in 1930. Image Credit: NASA. The existence of a planet beyond Neptune had been predicted by prominent American astronomer, Percival Lowell in 1905 but it was never proven in his lifetime. He had aimed a 40-inch reflector telescope at what he believed to be the ...
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