Clyde Tombaugh | Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/","20210119062659","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1611037619"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic&display=swap" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">  <title>Clyde Tombaugh | Academy of Achievement</title> <meta name="description" content="“Now I had figured out beforehand, if there was a Planet X, how I would recognize it if I encountered it.” When Clyde Tombaugh entered the University of Kansas, he tried to register for freshman astronomy. The professor in charge of the course refused to enroll him. He thought Tombaugh’s presence in the class would be inappropriate since Tombaugh had already achieved something only a handful of astronomers have ever done. As a 24-year-old research assistant at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, without the benefit of any formal training in astronomy, Tombaugh had discovered a new planet: Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh’s interest in astronomy began when he was a young boy, growing up on a farm in the Midwest, without access to observatories, universities, or even a large library. Unable to afford a college education, Tombaugh taught himself solid geometry and trigonometry and studied the stars through telescopes he built himself. After his discovery of Pluto won him world renown, Tombaugh at last acquired the college education he had long desired. He resumed astronomical research for the Lowell Observatory, taught navigation to the U.S. military during World War II, and after the war, used his expertise in optics to assist the military in the development of missiles at White Sands Missile Range. Long into his retirement, Clyde Tombaugh continued to enjoy stargazing from the telescopes in his own backyard. Although the discovery of more objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune has caused astronomers to reconsider the formal definition of a planet, the significance of Tombaugh’s discovery has grown with the years. Clyde Tombaugh discovered much more than a single planet — he opened a door to the outer reaches of our solar system."/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Clyde Tombaugh | Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="“Now I had figured out beforehand, if there was a Planet X, how I would recognize it if I encountered it.” When Clyde Tombaugh entered the University of Kansas, he tried to register for freshman astronomy. The professor in charge of the course refused to enroll him. He thought Tombaugh’s presence in the class would be inappropriate since Tombaugh had already achieved something only a handful of astronomers have ever done. As a 24-year-old research assistant at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, without the benefit of any formal training in astronomy, Tombaugh had discovered a new planet: Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh’s interest in astronomy began when he was a young boy, growing up on a farm in the Midwest, without access to observatories, universities, or even a large library. Unable to afford a college education, Tombaugh taught himself solid geometry and trigonometry and studied the stars through telescopes he built himself. After his discovery of Pluto won him world renown, Tombaugh at last acquired the college education he had long desired. He resumed astronomical research for the Lowell Observatory, taught navigation to the U.S. military during World War II, and after the war, used his expertise in optics to assist the military in the development of missiles at White Sands Missile Range. Long into his retirement, Clyde Tombaugh continued to enjoy stargazing from the telescopes in his own backyard. Although the discovery of more objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune has caused astronomers to reconsider the formal definition of a planet, the significance of Tombaugh’s discovery has grown with the years. Clyde Tombaugh discovered much more than a single planet — he opened a door to the outer reaches of our solar system."/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2019-02-23T16:40:26+00:00"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tombaugh-Feature-Image-3-Recovered.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:label1" content="Written by"> <meta name="twitter:data1" content="Hugh Esten"> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/#organization","name":"Academy of Achievement","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/","sameAs":["https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChe_87uh1H-NIMf3ndTjPFw","https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://twitter.com/achievers1961"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/12.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Academy of Achievement"},"image":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/#website","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/","name":"Academy of Achievement","description":"A museum of living history","publisher":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/search/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tombaugh-Feature-Image-3-Recovered.jpg","width":2800,"height":1120,"caption":"The late Clyde Tombaugh is shown here at NMSU in 1989"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/#webpage","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/","name":"Clyde Tombaugh | Academy of Achievement","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-02-12T21:18:36+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-23T16:40:26+00:00","description":"\u201cNow I had figured out beforehand, if there was a Planet X, how I would recognize it if I encountered it.\u201d When Clyde Tombaugh entered the University of Kansas, he tried to register for freshman astronomy. The professor in charge of the course refused to enroll him. He thought Tombaugh\u2019s presence in the class would be inappropriate since Tombaugh had already achieved something only a handful of astronomers have ever done. As a 24-year-old research assistant at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, without the benefit of any formal training in astronomy, Tombaugh had discovered a new planet: Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh\u2019s interest in astronomy began when he was a young boy, growing up on a farm in the Midwest, without access to observatories, universities, or even a large library. Unable to afford a college education, Tombaugh taught himself solid geometry and trigonometry and studied the stars through telescopes he built himself. After his discovery of Pluto won him world renown, Tombaugh at last acquired the college education he had long desired. He resumed astronomical research for the Lowell Observatory, taught navigation to the U.S. military during World War II, and after the war, used his expertise in optics to assist the military in the development of missiles at White Sands Missile Range. Long into his retirement, Clyde Tombaugh continued to enjoy stargazing from the telescopes in his own backyard. Although the discovery of more objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune has caused astronomers to reconsider the formal definition of a planet, the significance of Tombaugh\u2019s discovery has grown with the years. 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role="document"> <div class="content"> <main class="main"> <div class="feature-area__container"> <header class="feature-area feature-area--has-image ratio-container ratio-container--feature"> <figure class="feature-box"> <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image feature-area__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tombaugh-Feature-Image-3-Recovered.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tombaugh-Feature-Image-3-Recovered-1400x560.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tombaugh-Feature-Image-3-Recovered.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Clyde Tombaugh</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Discoverer of the Planet Pluto</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-60181 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-astronomer"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">It’s very tedious work and you go through tens of thousands of star images. I came to one place where it actually was, turned to the next field, there it was. Instantly, I knew I had a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. That was the most instantaneous thrill you can imagine. It just electrified me!</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">A Man of Universal Wonder</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> February 4, 1906 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> January 17, 1997 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"> <p>Clyde W. Tombaugh was born in 1906 in Streator, Illinois. He attended high school in Streator and moved with his family to a farm in Western Kansas, where a hailstorm destroyed the family’s crops, dashing his hopes of attending college. Tombaugh continued to study on his own, teaching himself solid geometry and trigonometry.</p> <figure id="attachment_60255" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60255" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-60255 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-60255 size-full lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="2902" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042-299x380.jpg 299w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042-597x760.jpg 597w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60255" class="wp-caption-text">Clyde Tombaugh, a 24-year-old student and the discoverer of the planet Pluto, looks over a Newtonian reflecting telescope he built in 1928. The mount for this telescope was built from part of the crankshaft from a 1910 Buick and discarded parts from a cream separator. It was with this telescope that Tombaugh made the observations responsible for a job offer from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. (Photo credit: Bettmann and Getty)</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1926, at the age of 20, Tombaugh built his first telescope. Dissatisfied with the result, he determined to master optics, and built two more telescopes in the next two years, grinding his own lenses and mirrors, and further honing his skills.</p> <p>Using these homemade telescopes, he made drawings of the planets Mars and Jupiter and sent them to Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The astronomers at Lowell were so impressed with the young amateur’s powers of observation, they invited him to work at the observatory.</p> <figure id="attachment_60258" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60258" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60258 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60258 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="2987" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980-290x380.jpg 290w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980-580x760.jpg 580w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60258" class="wp-caption-text">1931, Flagstaff, Arizona: Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto. In early January 1929, Clyde Tombaugh boarded a train for Flagstaff to begin a three-month trial period as an amateur astronomer at Lowell Observatory.</figcaption></figure> <p>Clyde Tombaugh stayed at Lowell Observatory for the next 14 years. The young astronomer earned a permanent place in the history of science when he discovered the planet Pluto on February 18, 1930. Pluto’s orbit lies three billion miles from the sun; it takes Pluto two and a half earthly centuries to complete a single orbit around the sun. Seen from Pluto, the sun appears merely as one bright star among many. Pluto’s moon, Charon, is nearly half the size of the planet itself and orbits Pluto once every 6.4 Earth days. From Pluto, Charon appears eight times larger than our moon appears from Earth.</p> <p>In 1932, Tombaugh entered the University of Kansas, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in 1936. He continued to work at Lowell Observatory during the summers, and after graduation, he returned to work at the observatory full-time. In 1938, he received his master’s degree from the University of Kansas.</p> <figure id="attachment_60250" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60250" style="width: 986px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60250 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60250 lazyload" alt="" width="986" height="709" data-sizes="(max-width: 986px) 100vw, 986px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm.jpg 986w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm-380x273.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm-760x546.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60250" class="wp-caption-text">1935: Clyde Tombaugh (second from left) at harvest time on the Tombaugh family farm in Kansas, five years after his discovery of Pluto. Left to right: Charles, Clyde, Adella, Roy, Anita, Robert, Esther, Patsy. (© Tombaugh family)</figcaption></figure> <p>During his years at Lowell Observatory, Tombaugh discovered hundreds of new variable stars, hundreds of new asteroids, and two comets. He found new star clusters and clusters of galaxies, including one supercluster of galaxies. In all, he counted over 29,000 galaxies. Tombaugh remained at Lowell until he was called to service during World War II. The astronomer taught navigation to the U.S. Navy at Arizona State College in Flagstaff from 1943 to 1945.</p> <p>After the war, Lowell Observatory was unable to rehire Tombaugh due to a funding shortfall, so in 1946, he returned to work for the military at the ballistics research laboratories of the White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he supervised the optical instrumentation used in testing new missiles.</p> <figure id="attachment_60260" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60260" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60260 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60260 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1905" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028-380x318.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028-760x635.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60260" class="wp-caption-text">December 3, 1954: Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh, noted astronomer of White Sands Proving Ground. Tombaugh worked at the Lowell Observatory for 14 years until he was called for military service in 1943, teaching naval navigation for the U.S. Navy at Arizona State College for two years. After the war, he planned on returning to Lowell Observatory but they were unable to rehire him due to a shortage in funding. In 1946, he worked for the military again and participated in ballistics research at the White Sands Missile Range for 9 years, leaving in 1955. (© Bettmann/Getty)</figcaption></figure> <p>In the course of this work, Tombaugh designed many new instruments, including a super camera called the IGOR (Intercept Ground Optical Recorder), which remained in use at White Sands for 30 years before it was finally improved upon.</p> <p>After nine years at White Sands, Tombaugh left the missile range in 1955. He was awarded the medal of the Pioneers of White Sands Missile Range.</p> <figure id="attachment_35858" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35858" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-35858 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-35858 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1629" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-380x272.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-760x543.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-35858" class="wp-caption-text">Awards Council member Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg presents the Academy’s Golden Plate Award to Clyde W. Tombaugh, eminent astronomer who discovered Pluto, at 1991 American Academy of Achievement Summit in New York City.</figcaption></figure> <p>From 1955 until his retirement in 1973, Clyde Tombaugh was on the faculty at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. In later years, Tombaugh crisscrossed the United States and Canada, giving lectures to raise money for New Mexico State University’s Tombaugh scholarship fund for postdoctoral students in astronomy. He died at home in Las Cruces, shortly before his 91st birthday.</p> <figure id="attachment_60262" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60262" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60262 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60262 lazyload" alt="" width="1920" height="1080" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1.jpg 1920w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1-380x214.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1-760x428.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60262" class="wp-caption-text">July 13, 2015: Four images from NASA’s New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this global view of Pluto. (The lower right edge of Pluto in this view currently lacks high-resolution color coverage.) The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers), twice the resolution of the single-image view taken on July 13. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations, and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)</figcaption></figure> <p>In recent years, a host of objects have been discovered circling the sun in the “Kuiper Belt,” a vast archipelago that extends billions of miles from a point between Neptune and Pluto. One, known as 2003 UB313, or Xena, is close to Pluto in size. Four others, all smaller than Pluto, have been discovered since 2002. For several years, the world’s astronomers debated whether these bodies should also be recognized as planets. In a highly controversial decision, the International Astronomic Union (IAU) voted in 2006 to redefine the word “planet” and to classify Pluto, Xena, and the newly discovered smaller bodies as “dwarf planets.” Thousands of objects comparable to these “dwarf planets” may yet be discovered, but many astronomers and members of the general public resisted the reclassification of Pluto and questioned the criteria cited as the basis of the IAU  decision.</p> <figure id="attachment_60247" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60247" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-60247 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-60247 size-full lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60247" class="wp-caption-text">July 2015: Clyde Tombaugh’s children, Alden Tombaugh (center) and Annette Tombaugh (right) pose with a photo of the dwarf planet with Sylvia Kuiper, the daughter of Gerard Kuiper, the astronomer for whom the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune is named. For Annette and Alden, the NASA New Horizons spacecraft’s mission to fly past Pluto is a memorial to their father, Clyde Tombaugh, the man credited with putting Pluto on the map of the solar system. His ashes were put in a two-inch aluminum capsule onboard the New Horizons spacecraft, which was expected to have flown past Pluto. On the capsule was inscribed the words: “Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system’s ‘third zone.’ Adelle and Muron’s boy, Patricia’s husband, Annette and Alden’s father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997).” (Credit: NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p>When the NASA space probe New Horizon flew by Pluto in 2015, it revealed that Pluto is a highly complex world, with dunes and mountain peaks of solid frozen methane and the possibility of a vast liquid sea beneath the ice. These discoveries intensified debate over the definition of planets and the status of Pluto.</p> <p>When New Horizon took flight for the outer reaches of the solar system, it carried an ounce of Tombaugh’s ashes, bringing a trace of Clyde Tombaugh’s mortal self to the new world he discovered, beyond the frontier he opened for all mankind.</p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> <figure class="achiever__video-block"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/ddmPG1n4xNE?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Clyde_Tombaugh_Bio_Page.00_00_15_03.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Clyde_Tombaugh_Bio_Page.00_00_15_03.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video__copy m-t-1"> <p>October 26, 1991: Clyde W. Tombaugh in the backyard of his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with his homemade telescopes, including the 9-inch Newtonian reflector he built in 1928 at the family farm in Kansas with discarded farm machinery and car parts.</p> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1991 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.astronomer">Astronomer</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> February 4, 1906 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> January 17, 1997 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p>“Now I had figured out beforehand, if there was a Planet X, how I would recognize it if I encountered it.”</p> <p>When Clyde Tombaugh entered the University of Kansas, he tried to register for freshman astronomy. The professor in charge of the course refused to enroll him. He thought Tombaugh’s presence in the class would be inappropriate since Tombaugh had already achieved something only a handful of astronomers have ever done. As a 24-year-old research assistant at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, without the benefit of any formal training in astronomy, Tombaugh had discovered a new planet: Pluto.</p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh’s interest in astronomy began when he was a young boy, growing up on a farm in the Midwest, without access to observatories, universities, or even a large library. Unable to afford a college education, Tombaugh taught himself solid geometry and trigonometry and studied the stars through telescopes he built himself.</p> <p>After his discovery of Pluto won him world renown, Tombaugh at last acquired the college education he had long desired. He resumed astronomical research for the Lowell Observatory, taught navigation to the U.S. military during World War II, and after the war, used his expertise in optics to assist the military in the development of missiles at White Sands Missile Range.</p> <p>Long into his retirement, Clyde Tombaugh continued to enjoy stargazing from the telescopes in his own backyard. Although the discovery of more objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune has caused astronomers to reconsider the formal definition of a planet, the significance of Tombaugh’s discovery has grown with the years. Clyde Tombaugh discovered much more than a single planet — he opened a door to the outer reaches of our solar system.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/v9XX4mMCqJs?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_28_13_02.Still009-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_28_13_02.Still009-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">A Man of Universal Wonder</h2> <div class="sans-2">Las Cruces, New Mexico</div> <div class="sans-2">October 26, 1991</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Let’s begin at the beginning. How did you first know what you wanted to do in your life?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/TC1pCTKNTi4?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_34_02_20.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_34_02_20.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: When I was in the fourth grade, I became intensely interested in geography, and I learned it well. And in fact, by the time I was in sixth grade, I could bound every country in the world from memory. By then, the thought occurred to me, “What would the geography be like on the other planets?” So that was my natural entrance into astronomy, you see. So I’ve been interested in that particular area ever since. Of course, I took all the science and math that was offered in high school, and I had an uncle in Illinois who lived about nine miles from us, and he was an amateur astronomer, and he had a three-inch telescope. So the views with that telescope were my first views of the rings of Saturn, and Jupiter’s moons, and the craters on the moon.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_60283" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60283" style="width: 2452px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60283 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60283 lazyload" alt="" width="2452" height="1875" data-sizes="(max-width: 2452px) 100vw, 2452px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490.jpg 2452w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490-380x291.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490-760x581.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60283" class="wp-caption-text">April 17, 1930: Clyde W. Tombaugh, the discoverer of the ninth planet, Pluto, poses with homemade telescopes at his home in Burdette, Kansas. Tombaugh, a Kansas farm boy with a penchant for astronomy, discovered Pluto while working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>What event inspired you in this field as a young person?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I was interested in eclipses when they occurred, things like that.  And then later, my uncle and my father invested in a Sears Roebuck better-grade telescope, which I used thousands of times to look at objects in the sky I had read about. That was always a thrill, to find them in the sky.  I was interested in telescopes and the way they worked, and so on, because I had an intense desire to see what the things looked like. So I learned how to use telescopes and find things in the sky. Although my early equipment was very modest, later I made my own, and they were more powerful.</p> <p><strong>How old were you when you built your first telescope?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: That was in 1926. I was 20.</p> <p><strong>Can you tell us about the first telescope you built yourself?</strong></p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/SLMJ_aG_QVA?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_08_36_24.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_08_36_24.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: It wasn’t a very good one because it had such meager instructions. It worked fairly well but not good enough to suit me. So the following year, the<em> Scientific American</em> published a book called <em>Amateur Telescope Making</em>. I bought a copy, and I digested it, and I realized where I’d made mistakes. So the next telescopes were much better because they had the benefit of more information. The nine-inch, for instance, in my backyard — you probably saw it there — was the third telescope of excellent quality. It was the drawings I made of the markings on Mars and Jupiter with that telescope, that I sent to the Lowell Observatory in 1928, that impressed them favorably so that they invited me to come out for a trial work with the new telescope at Flagstaff. So that was a big break.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Let’s talk about that time in your life. How did you come to send your drawings to the Lowell Observatory?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: What you do is, you have your drawing board and a pencil with you in hand at the telescope, and you look in and you make some markings on the paper. And you look in again, back and forth, many, many times, so as to get the stuff in the right proportion, the right intensity. It takes about a half-hour to make a good drawing that way. And when the temperature is freezing, it’s a bit hard on your fingers, but I was interested in putting down what I saw. And that’s what paid off.</p> <p><strong>As an amateur, what made you so confident that your drawings had some significance?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/d0svBCV4Zrc?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_16_08_18.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_16_08_18.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: At that time, the Lowell Observatory was the only planetary observatory in the country, and I was particularly interested in planets at that time, so I thought I would just like to see what they think of them. Of course, the planets are never the same twice; they’re always different. And so they could see from my drawings — they could compare the markings I had drawn with their current photographs, and they knew that I was drawing what I was really seeing, and it wasn’t copied from somewhere. So they realized that I was careful, I saw well, and so on, and so they thought I would be a good candidate to run this new photographic telescope they were installing.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_60271" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60271" style="width: 1826px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60271 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60271 lazyload" alt="" width="1826" height="1075" data-sizes="(max-width: 1826px) 100vw, 1826px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph.jpg 1826w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph-380x224.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph-760x447.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60271" class="wp-caption-text">These are copies of small sections of the discovery plates showing images of Percival Lowell’s mathematically predicted trans-Neptunian planet, afterward named “Pluto.” It was found by Mr. C.W. Tombaugh on February 18, 1930, while engaged in the search program and upon examination of these plates. (Lowell Observatory Photo)</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Can we relive that experience of when you first realized you had discovered an unknown planet?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/ao8DOyx9rcA?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_30_08_10.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_30_08_10.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I was assigned to taking photographs at night with the telescope. It was a wide-angle photographic telescope with a one-hour exposure. Then I developed the plates, and so on, and a few days later, I would put them on a special machine called the Blink Comparator, where you compared two plates rapidly in alternating views to see if any change occurred on the starfield from one plate to the other made a few nights later. That was the technique because these plates would have several hundred thousand star images a piece — and if you don’t think that’s an awesome thing to look at and realize you had to see all those images — which one moved, you see. So the challenge there was far more difficult than most people ever realized.</p> <p>But I had some soul-searching questions of myself. Do I want to go through this very tedious job or not? But I didn’t want to go back to the farm to pitch hay, and I knew that they’d hired me to do this job, so either I do this job or go back to the farm. So I went through some pretty tedious hardship cases to accomplish this, but I was dedicated, and I liked the work, really, and I was very, very careful. All the suspects were checked with a third plate, did the job very thoroughly, and it paid off. That’s where others failed because they were not careful enough. Their strategy was not good, and I had thought this thing out very carefully in my own mind of how to do this, you see, and it worked.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>At the time you discovered Pluto, there was a lot of talk about what they called “Planet X.” What did they mean by “Planet X”?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ISdxmHY1Ns?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_16_08_18.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_16_08_18.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Percival Lowell interpreted some of the — what they call “residuals” — slight irregularities in the orbit of Uranus, particularly, and later Neptune, as indicative of a mass out there as yet unseen — like the case of Neptune being discovered mathematically before it was seen, you see. These residuals were very, very small. In fact, so small that they were questionable whether they were real or not, but it was the best that he had. So he predicted that there was a planet out there about seven times more massive than the earth, beyond the orbit of Neptune. Of course, Pluto does not have that much mass.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_60286" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60286" style="width: 2046px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60286 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60286 lazyload" alt="" width="2046" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 2046px) 100vw, 2046px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304.jpg 2046w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304-259x380.jpg 259w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304-518x760.jpg 518w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60286" class="wp-caption-text">February 9, 2005: A guided tour of Lowell Observatory stops at the Pluto Discovery Telescope, built in 1928-1929 expressly for the purpose of completing the search for “Planet X” – the name for the hypothetical ninth planet in the solar system that Percival Lowell thought must exist. The Pluto Discovery Telescope, inside the Pluto Dome in Flagstaff, is one of the most famous telescopes in the history of American astronomical research. (© AP/Matt York)</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>When did you see it? </strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/HcJNGJmOwyc?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_26_41_25.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_26_41_25.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: It was daytime when I did the scanning. When I took the photographs, I had no idea that Pluto’s image was on those plates. Not until I began to scan them carefully sometime later — in fact, it was several weeks later when I got to that pair — and I encountered, as going through all these alternating views of starfields, and here’s one that shifted position by the right amount. Now I had figured out beforehand that if there was Planet X, how I would recognize it if I encountered it, you see. So I thought all this out beforehand. And so when it came, there it was, and instantly, I realized I had found a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune by the amount of shift. I knew the scale of the plates, I knew the interval, and it was just a matter of geometry.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/58kTcm4dWR0?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_36_48_19.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_36_48_19.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I had taken the plates of the telescope the previous month, in January 1930, and I did not know that I had recorded the image of Pluto on those plates, not until I scanned them later, in February. And so you passed your gaze over all these stars — you have to be conscious of seeing every star image because you don’t know which one’s going to shift, if they shift. So it’s very tedious work, and you go through tens of thousands of star images. Well, I came to one place where it actually was, turned to the next field, there it was. Instantly, I knew I had a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune because I knew the amount of shift was what fit the situation, and that was the most instantaneous thrill you can imagine. It just electrified me!</p> <p>It was an intense thrill. It made my day! That was the 18th of February 1930, about four o’clock in the afternoon. I realized, in a few seconds’ flash, that I’d made a great discovery, that I’d become famous, and I didn’t know what would happen after that. So it was a very intense thrill. You don’t have that kind of a thrill very often!</p> <p>At first, I had a little sense of caution. I thought I’d better check this with a third plate, which is another date, to see if there’s an image there in the right place that would be consistent with the images on the other plates. That was the final proof. Sure enough, it was there. That was when I was 100 percent sure.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>That’s when I notified the assistant director, Dr. Lampland, and he came in and looked, and then I went down and told the director, Dr. Slipher — Vesto Slipher. At that time, Dr. Slipher’s brother, Earl (E. C. Slipher) was in Phoenix serving as a senator in the state legislature of Arizona, so he wasn’t there at the time. Of course, it electrified them, too.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/1IWRvRWit8g?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_26_39_15.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_26_39_15.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I told the assistant director across the hall from me. This machine makes a clicking noise that could be heard in that part of the building. His office was across the hall, and he understood the blinking business, too. He had been involved in some of the earlier searches. He said, “I heard the clicking suddenly stop and a long silence,” and he surmised I had run onto something, so I was checking out the third plate and all that kind of thing, and here this poor man was sitting at his desk in terrible suspense, waiting to be invited in for a look. I didn’t know about that until he told me that later. Well, I showed him the plates, the dates and all — that everything seemed to be consistent with putting the object beyond the orbit of Neptune. And then, I went down and told the director. He came up and looked and saw. So the Lowell Observatory was changed from that day on!</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/BHamsnteyJg?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_29_22_02.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_29_22_02.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>They realized they really had a prize. And, of course, they probably felt a little bit strange, especially V. M. Slipher, because he had gone through the platal field and missed Pluto one year earlier — missed it on the plates. He was doing blinking. He wanted to be the one to find Pluto, and he failed. So, I suppose, he probably felt a little chagrined, but he realized and knew that I had something because the aspects were very convincing. So then they got in touch with the observatory trustee who was living in Massachusetts — he’s Lowell’s nephew — and told him about it. So it was kept secret for a few weeks so we could follow it, and we could learn more about it so we could publish more about it when it came out. Because we knew that when it was announced, there’d be an avalanche — and there was. It exceeded what we expected. So we kept it secret for about three weeks.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_60361" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-60361" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-60361 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-60361 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1529" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY-380x255.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062659im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY-760x510.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-60361" class="wp-caption-text">1991: Awards Council member Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with two Academy guests of honor, Dr. Chang-Lin Tien, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Clyde Tombaugh. This photo was taken at an outing to the Statue of Liberty during the Academy of Achievement’s Summit program in New York City, hosted by Academy member Steven J. Ross, the Chairman and CEO of Warner Communications.</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>How did you name it Pluto?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Unfortunately, so many of the Greek gods’ and goddesses’ names had been given to the asteroids beforehand, so there weren’t very many choices left. Pluto seemed to be a good name, so the staff voted on it unanimously to adopt the name of Pluto.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062659if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Qnt5b9mkx4?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_11_33_10.Still005-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tombaugh_Clyde_1991_MasterEdit.00_11_33_10.Still005-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>We considered many names, of course, and Pluto was the final selection. It was chosen by the staff of the Lowell Observatory. The Lowell Observatory director proposed this name to the American Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain — that this name be given to the planet — and both bodies accepted it unanimously. So we knew the name would stick. We realized, in the case of the discovery of Uranus, that the name originally did not stick. We did not want to repeat that mistake, you see. So Pluto has stuck.</p> <p>Pluto was the god of the lower world, of Hades. Pluto’s out there, far from the sun, where sunlight is the average distance: sunlight’s only one-sixteen-hundredth as bright as on Earth — rather dark. And if you think of Hades as a dimly lit place — or utter darkness — it kind of fits in with some of the characteristics of Pluto, probably, or of Hades. So it seemed fairly appropriate from that standpoint. And then, when the satellite of Pluto was discovered in 1978 by (James) Christy at the Naval Observatory, he named it Charon because his wife’s name was Charlene. Now Charon was the boatman who ferried the souls of the dead across the River Styx to Pluto’s realm of Hades. So the satellite name fits in very well with Pluto, you see. And the name Charon didn’t happen to be used. So that was good mythology there.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>So, soon after the discovery, there was some apprehension that maybe this object I’d found was only an interloper and that the real Planet X was yet to be found, so they said they wanted me to go on searching more. So I searched a lot more of the sky and no Planet X ever showed up.</p> </div>    <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Where did your life go from there?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I went on searching more of the sky to look for this Planet X that may be out there, still unseen. And then I got a scholarship at the University of Kansas to go to school, and I went to school there from 1932 to 1936. But I’d come out every summer and scan more of these plates, and then I went back two years later and got my master’s degree. All that time, I was searching for the Lowell Observatory. I took courses in higher mathematics and physics and the sciences, and so on, at the University of Kansas. That’s where I met my wife, Patricia.</p> <p><strong>Let’s go back to your early years. What did your parents think when you told them you wanted to be an astronomer when you grew up?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I guess they just took it for granted that that was what I was interested in and let nature take its course! So they always encouraged me, and of course, when the day came when I left to go to Arizona, they realized that I was going to do what I really wanted to do, which was become an astronomer.</p> <p><strong>What person inspired you in this field?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I think my uncle had much to do with it. My father also encouraged me, but my uncle was more of a devotee than my father was.</p> <p><strong>How did they encourage you?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: They would get books on astronomy out of the city library for me; they would allow me to stay up late at night to look at things in the sky. I didn’t have any regular bedtime hours to abide by, and so on, and so it was really a pretty good environment.</p> <p><strong>What were some of the books they took out?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I don’t remember the titles of them, but I had one book that I got called <em>The Pith of Astronomy</em> — a very amateur popular book — which I read so many times, I practically memorized it. And then other books I don’t recall the names of, and of course, a lot of them are now obsolete, but they were the best they had at the time. I got them from the Streator Library — Streator, Illinois. That was my hometown, and I went to high school there for two years.</p> <p><strong>What astronomy books did you treasure?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Yes, this book <em>The Pith of Astronomy</em>; I still have it. Then I acquired other books later as time went on. So I have now a pretty good library of astronomy books.</p> <p><strong>What did your friends in grade school think of you?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I guess they thought I was a little odd. I was always interested in intellectual things. I was also in sports, too. I played baseball in grade school, and then in high school, I was on the track and field team. I was the school’s star pole vaulter.</p> <p><strong>So you did have other interests.</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Oh yes. I guess the two things I was most interested in were telescopes and steam engines. Why steam engines? My father was an engineer on a threshing rig steam engine, and so I loved the machinery. I loved machinery.</p> <p><strong>Your uncle gave you a book on Mars, didn’t he?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: It was <em>Mars and Its Mysteries,</em> I think, written by Latimer Wilson. He was an amateur telescope maker and an amateur astronomer. He lived in Nashville. In later years, I went there and saw his telescope, but he was deceased by that time. I had kind of a correspondence with him in earlier years.</p> <p><strong>How did that come about?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: In <em>Popular Astronomy</em> magazine, in 1924, he had a paper with drawings of Jupiter, beautiful drawings of Jupiter and its markings. He remarked that he had made that with his 11-inch homemade refractor. Boy, that just sent me! I had to write him and say, “How do you make a telescope like that?” So I wrote to him and he responded. That’s how I got started making telescopes.</p> <p><strong>How old were you when you made your first telescopes?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I was 22 years old when I made the third telescope. The nine-inch was a very successful instrument. You need to have a place where the temperature’s constant, like an underground cave, so you don’t have thermal problems with the glass when you’re working with it. In fact, we had to build this cave ourselves, a few years earlier. The farmers liked to have a place like that for keeping milk and cream and butter and eggs and stuff — cool in summer and warm in winter. Also, for storm protection, because sometimes we had some bad storms, and you didn’t know if a tornado would come along and blow your house away. The best thing was to get down in that concrete cave — reinforced concrete. So it had a very special purpose, but it was a marvelous optical workshop for me.</p> <p>So that’s where I would grind these mirrors that had two disks of glass. One would be on a stand or a barrel, and you rubbed that over with strokes and rotation, and so on, so you’d grind the curve into it, you see. And then you’d go through the finer grades, and then finally, you’d polish it on a shaped lap of melted pitch, which gets solid, and then you use rouge and water to polish it. And then you polish the exact curve at the very last. It’s very fine work, you see.</p> <p>And then you have tests for watching and seeing these errors that are unbelievably simple. All you need is a tin can with a tiny little pinhole in it, about a hundredth of an inch in diameter, which serves as an artificial star, and that goes out and strikes the mirror and returns and makes an image of the pinhole, and you put this a little to one side, and the image will be here. And then you just have a safety razor blade on a block of wood, and by cutting in different places, you have highlights and shadows, which tells you where the errors are — which is high and which is low. It’s that simple. And yet, you can see errors down to within a few millionths of an inch because you have that long optical image. It’s that simple, but it’s tricky.</p> <p><strong>So just from your reading, you designed something that was equivalent to what scientists use.</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Yes. The first telescope was not so good because I didn’t know that much about it, but I learned rapidly. So you learn from mistakes.</p> <p><strong>Did you realize how much you had accomplished by developing that?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: No, didn’t think of it that way. I was just driven by the desire to see more things in the sky. That was the driving force. Everything else was secondary.</p> <p><strong>Were you surprised to realize you had developed such a sophisticated instrument?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I realized it more later, and then I felt a little bit more proud of myself that I had done better than I thought I was doing. But I never thought of it as being particularly difficult. I had to do a lot of thinking about it. I’ve always been a thinker. I don’t think there was any problem ever that I refused to try to grapple with.</p> <p>When I sent my mirror to Wichita, Kansas to a French telescope maker to silver my mirror because I didn’t have the facilities to silver the mirror, he tested my nine-inch mirror and thought it was very high quality, so he offered me sort of a lukewarm invitation to come and help him make telescopes. That was east to Wichita. Now I could have gone that way.</p> <p>In the meantime, I was wondering what I would do if I didn’t do that. I loved steam engines, so I really had a secret ambition to become a fireman and a railroad engineer because I just loved machinery and travel, and I had a profound love of trains. But when the offer from Flagstaff came, that changed all that and set me in an entirely different direction.</p> <p><strong>What came to mind at that point?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: When I was on the farm, we got hailed out, and of course, that meant a total lack of money. I couldn’t afford to go to college, and this was a real blow. So I realized that I would have some very tough sledding, and I was pretty discouraged because I didn’t see much hope of getting into the field I wanted to get into with no college education. I didn’t know anybody particularly important in the field, so I rather felt I was under a great disadvantage and really could hardly hope to do what I did finally become. So the break, going to Flagstaff, did the trick.</p> <p>It was depressing, very depressing. I worried about how I would make a living. I didn’t want to stay on the farm. It didn’t offer the challenge I wanted, and yet, without a college education, I felt that I was really out of luck. I just kept on studying, and then the breaks came. I kept making telescopes and learning more about optics, and that’s the knowledge that paid off. I was really preparing myself for the better thing than I realized at the time. Getting the invitation to go to Flagstaff was a real piece of real luck, but the other was preparing yourself. I like to think, as I think now, of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. He said, “The future belongs to those who prepare for it,” and I never forgot that.</p> <p><strong>What was it like working at Lowell Observatory?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, this consisted of taking these long-exposure photographs at night in the dome, unheated, of course, and then develop the plates and then scan the plates in daytime. I also liked to look at the planets with the big refractor. One of the astronomers there, E. C. Slipher, was the Mars man, and we were quite good pals, and we always found considerable companionship looking at Mars together. So there were some things I did on the side besides looking at these star plates. And I worked there for 14 years.</p> <p><strong>Did you always think you were destined to be an achiever in this field?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I never thought that way. I think the driving thing was curiosity about the universe. That fascinated me. I didn’t think anything about being famous or anything like that. I was just interested in the concepts involved and to soar out through the unlimited amount of imaginations and experiences. That’s what interested me. Being invited to come to Flagstaff was a big stroke of luck. The other was pluck. Not really realizing I had been preparing myself for that for years before that. Building that telescope, learning to find objects in the sky, reading everything on astronomy I could get. And to be very careful — I was somewhat of a perfectionist. So those were the traits that made me a good candidate for this type of job.</p> <p><strong>Why do you think you succeeded where others didn’t?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I had a strong sense of responsibility. I wanted to be flexible, also, and I just worshipped knowledge and spared no pains to do the job very well — and an enormous amount of perseverance. I learned that on the farm. I guess those are the qualities that got me there. You carry on through, even despite of discouraging situations, and you never lose sight of the goal. Often, you experience hardships involved like freezing in that cold dome at night, loss of sleep, and that gets pretty wicked, but I was interested in getting the results. It takes a dedication to achieve that kind of thing. A lot of people would give up and quit.</p> <p><strong>Is there anything in your career that you look back on as a failure?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Some things I could have done better. I would like to be a better master mathematician than I am. Also, I would have liked to have been a super pole-vaulter. Never achieved that, wasn’t good enough, but I didn’t do badly either, but I had goals beyond what I could achieve.</p> <p><strong>How do you deal with defeat?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I just take courage and go on and try all the harder again.</p> <p><strong>So there is no such thing as failure for you.</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I suppose not, but I never considered myself as a gifted child. I never thought of it that way, but I realize now that I probably was a little unusual.</p> <p><strong>You didn’t feel superior in any way, did you?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: No. I guess I felt a little awkward in social affairs because I was somewhat of a lone wolf, and I liked to do a lot of thinking, and that was my thought life. My heroes were Galileo and Herschel and so on, not baseball players or anything like that. I wasn’t very much interested in cars, either. That’s strange for a person nowadays. Just telescopes and steam engines were my first love.</p> <p>I did love engines and machinery. To me, the noise of a thresh machine is better music than a lot of music I hear nowadays. I took a man’s place in the threshing crew when I was 13, 14 years old. That was during World War I, and they were short of manpower, and so every boy in their early teens had to take a man’s place on the farm, in the fieldwork, and hogs, and threshing. So that’s where I learned to work hard. I shed many a tear when the steam engines went out of style on the railroads. I shed many a tear over that.</p> <p><strong>What was it like going to college to study astronomy after actually discovering a planet yourself?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, I had never been to college, and I was offered a scholarship at the University of Kansas. I couldn’t take it up the first year because the search (for Planet X) was in a critical phase. So in the fall of 1932, I went to Lawrence, Kansas and entered the university as a freshman and took all the courses, except they wouldn’t let me take beginning astronomy. I thought that was going to be a nice snap course, but they wouldn’t let me take it. I felt a little bit cheated on that!</p> <p><strong>You returned to the observatory after college and expected to return again after World War II, but eventually, you had to leave it behind, didn’t you?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Yes, well, they were short of funds. There were a lot of byproduct materials I wanted to work up after I got done with the scanning. I had learned a lot about the distribution galaxies in the sky; I counted over 29,000 galaxies on my plates, and I found that what I saw did not agree with Hubble’s view of the galaxies at all. I had arguments with him about that. It turned out I was right, as everybody knows now.</p> <p>If I had stayed, I would have worked all this out a decade earlier than when it was finally worked out as byproducts of the planet search. I discovered new star clusters, clusters of galaxies, and one great supercluster of galaxies as byproducts — hundreds and hundreds of new variable stars, and all that, hundreds of new asteroids, two comets. All that, I left behind because of a change in the regime. So World War II drastically changed my life.</p> <p><strong>Is there some anger and sadness?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Yeah, I kind of felt like I had somewhat in a way failed, but it wasn’t my fault. When I went back after teaching navigation in the Navy — all those years, I felt I’d have a job, and there was no job there again. That kind of left you empty-handed. That was kind of a blow. But it worked out for the best, anyway. The best thing ever happened was to leave there.</p> <p><strong>You’ve devoted many years to teaching, as well.</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Yes. My first experience at teaching was during World War II. I was in the military draft, and I was assigned to teaching navigation in the Navy school for seven semesters. I put hundreds of young men through a tough navigation course. It was very overloaded because they didn’t have enough teachers. Astronomers were good candidates for teaching navigation because they understood the basics of navigation theory, so a lot of astronomers were pressed into teaching navigation because of the terrible shortage of teachers. We were suddenly faced with the necessity of training a lot of young men in the art of navigation. So that’s how these things got set up all over the country. They had one at Flagstaff at the Arizona State College at that time.</p> <p><strong>Can we talk about your work at the White Sands Missile Range?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: During the war, I was teaching navigation in the Navy school, and when I wanted to go back to the Lowell Observatory to resume astronomical work, the observatory was short of funds, and they let me go. That kind of hurt my feelings, but in the meantime, I was invited to come to White Sands Missile Range to supervise the optical instrumentation. Some of the people thought, with my experience with telescopes, that I could do that kind of work. It turned out I was just the man for the job.</p> <p>So I came to White Sands in August of 1946 and saw almost all the German V2 rockets fired, along with our American rockets. So I had about 80 men under my supervision. About half of them were military people and others were civil service. My rank in civil service was equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel, and I had a big responsibility of getting the ballistic data on these rockets.</p> <p>So it was up to me to decide where to put my instruments for the strategic positions to measure these high-speed rockets. It was a real challenge, but we did it. Again, I used a lot of trigonometry out there, knowledge of optics, and so on, and designed super cameras and got marvelous results, which really put the White Sands Missile Range on the map. So I had a lot to do with the modern instrumentation of rockets.</p> <p><strong>Was it satisfying to change careers for a while?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, at first I wasn’t sure I’d like it, but the optical problems rather fascinated me, and so here’s where I could make a real contribution to the service of my country. At that time, after the war, the Russians turned suddenly unfriendly and that bothered me. I thought, “Well, they’re testing a new brand of rockets and missiles. We need somebody who knows how to get instrumental data on them in flight.” So I thought this was where I could make a contribution.</p> <p>I’m glad I did. We had some dangerously close calls, but it was very challenging. It was very exciting. I saw a lot of them explode on the launch or in the air, and so on. Very spectacular Fourth of July fireworks, I can tell you. These were powerful missiles. I tracked a lot of them myself with satellites and tracking telescopes.</p> <p>So I got thoroughly acquainted with the Army, which I’d never known much about before. I worked with every rank in the Army, from the commanding general to the buck private, and I had several military people under my supervision, even. So I designed new instruments for particular jobs of the work, which proved to be very successful. In fact, this one instrument, which we called the “IGOR,” meaning “Intercept Ground Optical Recording,” was a super camera, and they worked so well that they were used at the White Sands for the next 30 years before they retired them. Then they got some a little bit bigger of the same kind.</p> <p><strong>Tell me about some of your other sub-careers?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I designed optics to replace some of the German optics on the instruments they had, to make them more powerful, and they worked very well on the White Sands Missile Range. Some of these things, we had to be quite a distance away because they were too dangerous to be close. Some of the rockets would accelerate so fast, you had to be back at least ten miles from the launcher to be able to handle the tracking rate — very fast. It was a real challenge. You know you had a tiger by the tail when you tried to track some of these solid propellant missiles. They’d pick up full speed in about four seconds.</p> <p>And all this came about from what I learned personally working on mirrors in a cave in Kansas. No one seemed to have a perspective as to how they could apply this to this new field. As a matter of fact, I had to write the job descriptions of all of the different kinds of jobs in my section because there was no precedent at all in the civil service. They didn’t know how to set up the job descriptions. I had to set up those, too.</p> <p><strong>How did you live with your success?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: It took quite a little bit of adjustment because I didn’t expect to live that kind of life. I’ve been making adjustments to it ever since. People want autographs by the thousands. They want to talk to me. They want me to give lectures about the way — I did give a series of lectures for four years, traveling over the United States and Canada, to raise money for Tombaugh Scholarships for postdocs in astronomy here at New Mexico State University. We raised — counting the matching money, it would be close to half a million dollars.</p> <p><strong>What you are doing now?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, I get pressed by the public all the time. Dozens of people are after me all the time for favors. It really takes up a lot of time, and I just don’t have time to do the things I really want to do. I can ignore some of it, some of it I can’t. I have a new school a mile south of here — a big, new grade school called the Clyde W. Tombaugh Elementary School, which the people of Las Cruces named in my honor. Every young kid in that school knows I found Pluto, and it thrills them to death that they’re going to the Tombaugh School. So I’m doing all right in this community. They give me great honor.</p> <p><strong>Do you have a lot of communication and conversations with other astronomers?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: All the time. Letters pour in by dozens and dozens. I go to conventions, meetings — every year to some meeting. So I’m in constant contact, and it’s fun to chat with people. For example, a year ago last June, we had a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Albuquerque, and the people who were the high moguls on the NASA space effort — the Voyager Mission people — they invited me to have lunch with them. That was a high for me. Those men are marvelous talent.</p> <p><strong>It must have been a high for them.</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, I suppose so. I don’t think of it that way. I just think of myself, more or less, as a guy. I look up to them as if they are the achievers, you see. Of course, I realize that I’m an achiever, too, but I don’t think of it so much that way. To me, what I achieved was the most logical — I don’t think it was particularly difficult, but other people say that was very difficult. It came kind of easy for me because I understood it, for some reason — a natural understanding. And that had to be my latent talent.</p> <p><strong>As you see it, what’s the role of intuition or instinct in science?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I think it’s part of being a scientist. You have to have an alertness to deal with the — when you encounter the unexpected. There’ve been a lot of — the history of science is filled with almost-made discoveries, missed by a hairline because they didn’t have the alertness to realize they had a discovery. One sees a lot of tragic examples of that in science.</p> <p>Take the case of the French astronomer Lalande in 1795. He was making a star catalog, and he was a very careful observer. He would sketch the position of stars in the field; he’d go back a few nights later to recheck them and make sure he hadn’t made a mistake. Well, he happened to have Neptune in one field, on the eighth of May 1795, and then two nights later, he went back, and that’s when it was in the same place but in a different position. He thought he made an error in the position. He was actually witnessing the movement of planet Neptune and didn’t have the alertness to realize that he’d found a planet. He couldn’t have had a better clue. Where was his imagination? I find a lot of scientists do not have much imagination, and they do not make big discoveries because they miss them.</p> <p><strong>How do scientists lose their imagination?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I don’t think they ever had it. There are some people who are just plodders and work right along routine stuff, and they seem to like — it’s all they’re capable of doing, but they do it well. Others have imagination to see the unknown and interpret the unexpected, so you have these various different kinds of scientists.</p> <p><strong>Did you ever have a conflict with your gut feeling and your head?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Oh, I don’t recall, particularly. I generally was always looking ahead, and so on. I used to do all kinds of things for entertainment. Back in the days when I was young, we had no radio, no TV, we were 30 miles from the public library, out in the sticks in Western Kansas, and so I’d do arithmetic exercises. For example, I’d calculate how many kernels of wheat were in 10,000 bushels of grain, just for the heck of it, to see how big the number was. I’d even calculate how many cubic inches there were in the supergiant star Betelgeuse. It’s one followed by 39 ciphers. I can still read the number. By this, I learned to get a grasp of the meaning of numbers.</p> <p>So the thing I regret to see nowadays in media, where they mean billions instead of millions, and vice versa — they don’t seem to understand the difference between a million and a billion! It’s a terrific difference— a thousandfold difference — and yet they don’t seem to have the intuition to realize that that’s the wrong answer. They say “million” when they mean “billion” or vice versa.</p> <p>And also, the thing that really pains me is the ignorance of geography among people today. It is astounding. When you have a lot of people who cannot identify the United States on a world map, that’s really bad! There’s no excuse for that kind of ignorance. And when people travel a lot, why don’t they learn some geography? It’s interesting. Then you know where you’re going.</p> <p>See, I value knowledge very highly, and it never hurts you. In fact, it gets you good jobs, if you have knowledge. And yet, a lot of people aren’t willing to take that attitude or willing to take the trouble to learn. It does require effort to learn, and if you’re too lazy to think, well then, you’ve got to learn.</p> <p><strong>How would you explain what you do and what you care about to someone who doesn’t know anything about your field? How would you impart to them the excitement that you feel?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, I like to raise the question, “Have you ever thought about what lies in the sky above you — that Earth is not the only place in the universe? There’s a great universe out there — vast. Ever think about that? We’re only a small part of it. You ought to think about that — learn our place in the universe.” I like to try to raise the curiosity of what is out there in space — a lot of unsolved mysteries — challenging. You’re filled with wonderment — baffled at some of the puzzles that you can’t solve. It’s a never-ending challenge.</p> <p><strong>Are you looking for anything in particular through these telescopes of yours these days?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: No, just playing around, looking at the beautiful starfields, and so on. I have this feeling of wanderlust. I like to kind of look there and just sweep around through the Milky Way and say, “Oh, there’s hundreds and hundreds of stars and star clusters!” It gives me a feeling of great elation. It’s a therapy for me. Just idle plowing into the sky, you know — it’s fun — and wonder what all the wonderful things are that must be going on there that we don’t see. Realizing there are thousands and thousands — millions — of alien civilizations out there, doing things, maybe something like we are. This is something you think about.</p> <p><strong>You do believe there’s life elsewhere in the universe?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Oh, yes. Our sun isn’t so peculiar as to be the only one — out of octillions of stars — to be the only one having a planet with life on it. That’s totally against the odds. Even if you have only one star out of 10,000 that has a planet that is right for life, the number of stars in the skies — we know now from sampling with the big telescopes — there are a number of stars as ten to the 21st power. Now that doesn’t mean anything until I tell you that the number of grains of sand in all of the earth’s ocean beaches are only ten to the 19th power. So there are a hundred stars to every grain of sand in all the ocean’s beaches — now if they’re not all sterile, then how could there be?</p> <p>You have to realize there’s this enormous potentiality of trillions of planets out there with alien civilizations on them. We are not the center of the universe. We are not all that important. And we’re not alone. So that’s my perspective. You see these things in the sky in your plates and it’s a wonderful education. And you’re made aware of the enormous vastness of the universe and all of the things that may be in it. That, to me, is a very challenging thought. I love to dwell on that wonderment.</p> <p><strong>You’ve said when you were a young person, you spent a lot of time with two books, the Bible and an encyclopedia. How do you reconcile the religious teachings of the Bible and the scientific learning you acquired later?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, unfortunately, a lot of the concepts in the Bible are obsolete. They’re based on ancient and obsolete mythology, and that doesn’t fit the findings of science. So I had to choose one or the other. So I regard it as a history, in a way, valuable for teaching morals and all of that, but for teaching science, it was no good. It was misleading. That was the attitude I took.</p> <p><strong>What did that do for your religious conviction?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, I had a drastic revision of my religion. During the Scopes trial in 1925 — Tennessee — I was 19 then, and I became thoroughly disillusioned with what I considered ignorant, fundamentalist points of view — thoroughly disgusted. Our minister would rant and rave against science every Sunday, all summer long. I got thoroughly disgusted with that kind of stupidity. So I never got over that. I’m not a Christian at all. I cannot reconcile myself to that point of view. I used to be, but I abandoned it.</p> <p><strong>But we understand you are a spiritual person in many ways.</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, I am. I think there’s a supreme power backing the whole thing — intelligence — when you look at all of the instincts of nature, both animals and plants, the very ingenious ways they survive. If you cut yourself, you don’t have to think about it — your hand, something there heals it, stops the bleeding, puts the scab on — something marvelous and a miracle there. How does a pansy, for example, select the ingredients from the soil to get the right colors for the flower? Now there’s a great miracle. So I think there’s a supreme power behind all of this, as I see it in nature.</p> <p><strong>When people seek contact with a supreme power, they look upward. You spent so much of your life looking up to the skies. Are those things related?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, of course, heaven is no place in the space out there. I don’t know where it would be. There’s one place where I think they could say where hell is. That’s on the planet Venus because the temperature is 900 degrees and no water, and it rains sulfuric acid, and the atmosphere is 90 times more oppressive than here, so that’s a good place for hell. It’s just the next planet over!</p> <p><strong>Do you think searching for intelligent life beyond Earth is the greatest challenge for science now?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: I think so. They’ve set up some facilities where they’re trying to listen for possible intelligent signs of somebody radioing to us that shows intelligence somewhere else in the universe. So far, they haven’t found it yet, but who knows what they may find. The only trouble is, a lot of them are too far away. They don’t have the signal strength to get here to be picked up. But they’re listening.</p> <p><strong>Some of the great discoveries and inventions of our time were anticipated in science fiction. Did that have any influence on you?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, of course, I remember some of the science fiction, which, of course, have come true. One of the things that really fascinates me is the speed of light and electromagnetic radiation. For example, we can radio to astronauts on the moon. It gets there in one-and-a-quarter seconds. How can it get it there that fast? Now that’s something to marvel about! Can you visualize a mechanism that would permit that kind of speed? I’m just simply flabbergasted. I cannot imagine a mechanism that is able to accomplish that kind of a miracle, yet we talk to the astronauts on the moon like they’re next door. Isn’t that a marvel? That’s a tremendous accomplishment in communications — to talk to people on another world.</p> <p>So I don’t see how people can nowadays — with all these marvels they’re finding — how can they possibly be bored with life? I just don’t understand that. To me, it’s all exciting. How can they be bored? That’s just beyond my understanding.</p> <p><strong>Is that the idea that most fascinates you right now?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, it’s one of the things. One of the things that fascinates me as a question is, “Is the universe finite or infinite?” Either one, it’s impossible to imagine. So how do you handle it? But I finally gave up and settled for a compromise, and so I say, “I guess the universe is semi-infinite.” That’s the best I can do with it. We don’t know. We have never found the edge of the universe yet. We’ve gone out to about 11 billion light years and haven’t found the edge yet.</p> <p>There are millions of galaxies like our Milky Way. Our Milky Way is one galaxy that contains about 200 billion suns, in our own galaxy. And all this means millions like our own galaxy, but hundreds of billions of suns out there, each one of them. Now all of those stars cannot be sterile with no plants or life on them, can they? It just doesn’t make any sense. So you wonder, “What is the purpose of the universe?” — if there is a purpose. We don’t know. I’m afraid that we sometimes are a little bit vain and we think the universe is made for us. I’m not sure of that. That’s our own vanity showing up.</p> <p><strong>What does that mean to you?</strong></p> <p>Clyde Tombaugh: Well, that’s sort of my religion, to ponder on these things. And of course, a lot of answers I don’t know, never will know. But it’s fun to think about them.</p> <p><strong>Thank you, Mr. Tombaugh. It’s been delightful talking to you.</strong></p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Clyde Tombaugh Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>12 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2730318257956" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042.jpg" data-image-caption="Clyde Tombaugh, a 24-year-old student and the discoverer of the planet Pluto, looks over a Newtonian reflecting telescope he built in 1928. The mount for this telescope was built from part of the crankshaft from a 1910 Buick and discarded parts from a cream separator. It was with this telescope that Tombaugh made the observations responsible for a job offer from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. (Photo credit: Bettmann and Getty)" data-image-copyright="Clyde Tombaugh with Newtonian Telescope" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042-299x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1928-2280-GettyImages-515132042-597x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4671814671815" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304.jpg" data-image-caption="February 9, 2005: A guided tour of Lowell Observatory stops at the Pluto Discovery Telescope, built in 1928-1929 expressly for the purpose of completing the search for “Planet X” — the name for the hypothetical ninth planet in the solar system that Percival Lowell thought must exist. The Pluto Discovery Telescope, inside the Pluto Dome in Flagstaff, Arizona is one of the most famous telescopes in the history of American astronomical research. (© AP/Matt York)" data-image-copyright="Pluto Telescope" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304-259x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et-AP_17022036516304-518x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76447368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490.jpg" data-image-caption="April 17, 1930: Clyde W. Tombaugh, the discoverer of the ninth planet, Pluto, poses with homemade telescopes at his home in Burdette, Kansas. Tombaugh, a Kansas farm boy with a penchant for astronomy, discovered Pluto while working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ." data-image-copyright="et2-AP_226466551490" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490-380x291.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/et2-AP_226466551490-760x581.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.71447368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg" data-image-caption="Awards Council member Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg presents the Academy's Golden Plate Award to Clyde W. Tombaugh, the eminent astronomer who discovered Pluto, at the 1991 American Academy of Achievement Summit in New York City. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-tombaughseaborggoldenplate" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-380x272.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-760x543.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.58815789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph.jpg" data-image-caption="These are copies of small sections of the discovery plates showing images of Percival Lowell’s mathematically predicted trans-Neptunian planet, afterward named “Pluto.” It was found by Mr. C.W. Tombaugh on February 18, 1930, while engaged in the search program and upon examination of these plates. (Lowell Observatory Photo)" data-image-copyright="Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto---credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph-380x224.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Discovery-of-Planet-Pluto-credit-Lowell-Observatory-Photograph-760x447.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/tombaugh1-new-profile-square.jpg" data-image-caption="Clyde W. Tombaugh" data-image-copyright="tombaugh1-new-profile-square" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/tombaugh1-new-profile-square-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/tombaugh1-new-profile-square.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.71842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm.jpg" data-image-caption="1935: Clyde Tombaugh (second from left) at harvest time on the Tombaugh family farm in Kansas, five years after his discovery of Pluto. Left to right: Charles, Clyde, Adella, Roy, Anita, Robert, Esther, Patsy. (© Tombaugh family)" data-image-copyright="1953-Harvest at Tombaugh family farm" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm-380x273.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1953-Harvest-at-Tombaugh-family-farm-760x546.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1.jpg" data-image-caption="July 13, 2015: Four images from NASA’s New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this global view of Pluto. (The lower right edge of Pluto in this view currently lacks high-resolution color coverage.) The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers), twice the resolution of the single-image view taken on July 13. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations, and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="PIA19857 (1)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PIA19857-1-760x428.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.83552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028.jpg" data-image-caption="December 3, 1954: Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh, noted astronomer of White Sands Proving Ground. Tombaugh worked at the Lowell Observatory for 14 years until he was called for military service in 1943, teaching naval navigation for the U.S. Navy at Arizona State College for two years. After the war, he planned on returning to Lowell Observatory but they were unable to rehire him due to a shortage in funding. In 1946, he worked for the military again and participated in ballistics research at the White Sands Missile Range for nine years, leaving in 1955. (© Bettmann/Getty)" data-image-copyright="Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh, Noted Astronomer" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028-380x318.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1954-2280-GettyImages-514693028-760x635.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3103448275862" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980.jpg" data-image-caption="1931, Flagstaff, Arizona: Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto. In early January 1929, Tombaugh boarded a train for Flagstaff to begin a three-month trial period as an amateur astronomer at Lowell Observatory." data-image-copyright="wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980-290x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-1931-GettyImages-514698980-580x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons.jpg" data-image-caption="July 2015: Clyde Tombaugh’s children, Alden Tombaugh (center) and Annette Tombaugh (right), pose with a photo of the dwarf planet with Sylvia Kuiper, the daughter of Gerard Kuiper, the astronomer for whom the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune is named. For Annette and Alden, the NASA New Horizons spacecraft’s mission to fly past Pluto is a memorial to their father, Clyde Tombaugh, the man credited with putting Pluto on the map of the solar system. His ashes were put in a two-inch aluminum capsule onboard the New Horizons spacecraft, which was expected to have flown past Pluto. On the capsule was inscribed the words: “Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system’s 'third zone.’ Adelle and Muron’s boy, Patricia’s husband, Annette and Alden’s father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997).” (Credit: NASA)" data-image-copyright="wp-2015-new-horizons" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2015-new-horizons-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY.jpg" data-image-caption="1991: Awards Council member Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with two Academy guests of honor, Dr. Chang-Lin Tien, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Clyde Tombaugh. This photo was taken at an outing to the Statue of Liberty during the Academy of Achievement’s Summit program in New York City, hosted by Academy member Steven J. Ross, the Chairman and CEO of Warner Communications." data-image-copyright="wp-2280-Tombaugh, Glenn Seaborg, Ching-Lin Tien 1991 Summit NY" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY-380x255.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2019/02/wp-2280-Tombaugh-Glenn-Seaborg-Ching-Lin-Tien-1991-Summit-NY-760x510.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on February 23, 2019</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever science-exploration analytical curious explore-nature shy-introverted resourceful " data-year-inducted="2007" data-achiever-name="Mather"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/mat1-008a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/mat1-008a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">John C. 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Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/peter-gabriel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peter Gabriel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-b-maccready-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/reinhold-messner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reinhold Messner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/cal-ripken-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Cal Ripken Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony D. Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George B. Schaller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062659/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. 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