Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906) died on January 17, 1997.

January 17, 1997

Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906) died on January 17, 1997.

Clyde William Tombaugh was an American astronomer. He discovered Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of discovery, Pluto was considered a planet, but was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids, and called for the serious scientific research of unidentified flying objects.