Clyde Thombaugh

(1906-1997) Clyde Thombaugh was the first discover of pluto he died, he had suffered from congestive heart failure and was on oxygen for the last several years when he was 91, He was born in Streator. Clyde built his own telescope in 1925 it was the first of more than thirty telescopes he was to build over his lifetime.

Clyde discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930, over the next 13 years he would rearch the skies. He also discovered several clusters of stars and galexies, studied the apparent distributon of extragalatic, alos he made observations on the following planets, Mars Venus Jupitar Saturn and the Moon.

In 1932 he discovered a nova in Corvus that had exploded a year earlier. Clyde was dismissed from Lowell in 1945 for financial reasons. Ten years later he founded the astronomy program at New Mexico State University.

www.physics.ku.edu/.../tombaugh/youngtom.jpg