Telegram of a Name Suggestion for Planet X by Venetia Burney

Telegram of a Name Suggestion for Planet X by Venetia Burney

Planet X; Pluto; Pluto Discovery; Pluto Name Suggestions; Astronomy; Planetary Science; Burney, Venetia; Lowell Observatory; Flagstaff; Arizona.

Following the discovery of a new planet in March of 1930, people across the world sent letters and telegrams to Lowell Observatory with name suggestions. Venetia Burney, a young girl from England, proposed the name "Pluto" to her grandfather, who then sent her suggestion via telegram to Lowell Observatory. Lowell Observatory's director at the time, V.M. Slipher, credited Burney for being the first to suggest naming the new planet "Pluto" despite the dozens of correspondence which also submitted the name.

Burney, Venetia

1930-03-16.

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Telegram

English

Image

Pluto Collection. 2012.0475.