Dr. Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of the planet Pluto, spent his boyhood in Burdett, Kansas. Born in 1906, he grew up on a farm northwest of Burdett and graduated from Burdett High School. As a young boy, Tombaugh’s passion for the heavens led him to explore the night sky with telescopes.
His remarkable journey in astronomy began when he was hired by the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1930, Tombaugh made history by discovering Pluto, the outermost planet in our solar system. His dedication was evident as he spent 7,000 hours examining over 90 million star images, and during his career, he discovered not only Pluto but also a comet, six star clusters, one cloud of galaxies, and approximately 775 asteroids.
Tombaugh’s contributions to astronomy are unparalleled, with few astronomers observing the universe in such intricate detail. He earned degrees from the University of Kansas and Northern Arizona University and concluded his distinguished career as a professor of astronomy at New Mexico State University.
