Clyde Tombaugh, American Astronomer
Tombaugh using the blink comparator to check images of night sky taken at the same time a few nights apart. Stars remain fixed in the sky, so any sign of movement among them on Tombaugh's photographic plates would indicate that the "star" was in fact a planet. Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 - January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He became an assistant at Lowell Observatory. Lowell himself predicted the existence of a ninth planet, and a team was set up to find it. He invented the blink comparator to facilitate the search. This device allowed comparison of two photographs of the sky, which showed if any object had altered position. In 1930 he discovered the dwarf planet Pluto, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. He also discovered nearly 800 asteroids and hundreds of variable stars, as well as star clusters, galaxy clusters, and a galaxy supercluster. He is also credited with the discovery of periodic comet 274P/Tombaugh-Tenagra. He was probably the most eminent astronomer to have reported seeing unidentified flying objects and to support the extraterrestrial hypothesis. He died in 1997 at the age of 90. Approximately one ounce of his ashes is being carried on the New Horizons space probe. The container includes the inscription: ""nterned 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 W. Tombaugh (1906-1997)".
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