Clyde Tombaugh: Discoverer of Planet Pluto (Sky & Telescope Observer's Guides) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

When this book was first published by the University of Arizona Press back in 1991, I happened to be in a small bookstore when in walked Eugene Shoemaker. This was before the names of Shoemaker and Levy had been publicly linked in the name of a famous comet. Shoemaker spotted this book on the shelf and exclaimed happily: "Look! They've got David Levy's book on Clyde Tombaugh!" I vaguely recall that he even picked up the book and eagerly showed it to a friend. No doubt Shoemaker would be pleased that Sky and Telescope Books has now 'got' this book back into print.

While David Levy may be better known as an astronomer than as a biographer, he has a couple of stronger-than-usual qualifications to write Tombaugh's biography: he knew Tombaugh over many years and got Tombaugh's cooperation for this book, and he appreciates better than anyone what an extraordinary task it was for Tombaugh to search through a large portion of the sky, both before and after the Pluto discovery.

Clyde Tombaugh took a unique arc through the world of astronomy. Lowell Observatory hired him precisely because he was a Kansas farm boy without academic qualifications and would be thrilled to work for peanuts on a task that most astronomers considered futile. Tombaugh was indeed thrilled by the chance to observe the sky full-time. He was motivated by a basic deep love of astronomy that never left him amidst all the twists and frustrations of his further career. There are few biographies of astromoners in which the sheer joy of astronomy speaks so clearly. Levy also does justice to the scientific challenges involved in searching for Pluto. But Tombaugh's systematic sky survey had larger, cosmological implications: he was seeing the clumpy distribution of galaxies and challenged Edwin Hubble's opinion that the galaxies were distributed more uniformly. Tombaugh also had an adventure in pioneer rocketry, spending several years at White Sands in the 1950s, helping Von Braun's team develop some basic techniques that would become familiar to the public watching the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo programs.

I put Levy's biography to a unique, tough test. I read it after visiting the small town in Kansas from which Tombaugh came. I spoke with Tombaugh's nephew and with locals who had known the Tombaugh family. I went through the local newspaper file and and visited the school Tombaugh attended (and I even showed the latest issue of Sky and Telescope, with its cover story on Pluto, to Mrs. Miller's third grade class). I visited the now-abandoned Tombaugh farmstead and found the weed-hidden cement telescope mount Tombaugh had built for the telescope he used to make the drawings for which Lowell Observatory hired him. After such a personal exposure, there's a danger that a biography will fall short, ringing false in emphasis or slipping up on various details. But it's clear that Levy got to know Tombaugh pretty well. More importantly, he turns Tombaugh into an Everyman Hero for anyone who finds astronomy to be an adventure.

As an amateur astronomer of 40 years I loved this book. An easy read.Can be read in one day but DONT.Take your time and enjoy it.I like the pictures too. Best one is older Clyde with his eyes closed petting his cat Pluto. Shear contentment and love. David Levy another giant of an astronomer was a friend of Clyde Tombaugh and did days and days of interviews with Clyde and other people to write this great book.

We see Clyde growing up on a farm and interested in astronomy and building telescopes.His father plays a big part in Clyde's life imparting to Clyde to "Do a job right the first time and you wont have to do it again". He gets an offer to work at a telescope manufacturer or observing and blinking images at the Lowell observatory. He takes the Lowell observatory job and gets a good salary for the time. Its during the depression and any good paying job is great. He image blinks thousands and thousands of images on to plates and spends countless hours observing in the cold observatory trying to find planet X plus sharing janitorial jobs at the observatory. His bosses thought the world of Perceval Lowell(another giant astronomer),even though Lowell was wrong about the canals of Mars. The director of the observatory thought Lowell was an astronomy god.

Clyde gets his BS degree.

Slowly Clyde gains their respect and eventually assumes all duties of blinking and trying to find planet X. After years of very hard meticulous work Clyde finds planet X. Its named Pluto and the astronomy world and the press go crazy.

Clyde gets his Masters degree.Clyde marries but still does not have a PHD

The director gets jealous of all the attention Clyde is getting and that the other researchers and Lowell Observatory is not getting the credit so he asks Clyde to leave.

Clyde joins the army, becomes a Lt Colonel and becomes in charge of missile optical guidance systems. Later he gets an honorary PHD degree. Clyde also teaches at colleges and universities as well as is an active lecturer and publishes various articles. Also told astronomer Hubble that galaxies tended to be clumped together. Hubble said no. Tombaugh was right!

Here is a man who accomplished so much in both astronomy, the military, and teaching because of his hard meticulous keeping to detail and trying to do it right the first time. Also read about the various other telescopes he put together and observed with.

Read the book. Clyde Tombaugh main fame was the discovery of the planet Pluto but he accomplished so much more in life. The world misses a great man and his accomplishments. A good inspiration of things that can be accomplished if you have a serious work ethic and are willing to give it your all to get it done right the first time.