How An 11-Year-Old Named A (Dwarf) Planet
0:35 minutes
Eighty-five years ago this week, astronomers at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona sent a telegram to Harvard registering their discovery of another planet in our solar system. The news made the front page in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere, and was morning conversation in a London household where 11-year-old Venetia Burney lived. “My grandfather read out at breakfast the great news and said he wondered what it would be called,” she remembers in a 2006 interview with NASA. “And for some reason, I after a short pause, said, ‘Why not call it Pluto?’” We look back on that moment in this week’s One Last Thing.
Segment Guests
Venetia Burney Phair
At age 11, Venetia Burney Phair suggested ‘Pluto’ for newly-discovered planet. Based in Banstead, England, U.K.
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About Charles Bergquist
@cbquistAs Science Friday’s director and senior producer, Charles Bergquist channels the chaos of a live production studio into something sounding like a radio program. Favorite topics include planetary sciences, chemistry, materials, and shiny things with blinking lights.