Clyde Tombaugh's Passion For Exploring The Universe

“I think the driving thing was curiosity about the universe. That fascinated me. I didn't think anything about being famous or anything like that, I was just interested in the concepts involved.” Clyde Tombaugh was a simple man that had a great passion for exploring the universe and prided himself in displaying his findings that had a great purpose to the study of astronomy. His strong curiosity and determination to discover new findings pushed him to create different telescopes that would impact how astronomers researched and looked for certain things in space. Tombaugh was able to discover many different things throughout his career, but he really made his mark in history from his work on asteroids and UFOs, and for discovering Pluto, which

After teaching himself different subjects like geometry and trigonometry, Tombaugh then went on to start developing telescopes at the age of only 20 years old. He wanted to have the best optic skills that he possibly could and kept designing more telescopes. The more advanced telescopes that he made, the better his observational skills became. He was able to sketch drawings of different planets like Jupiter and Mars after observing them through the different telescopes that he had built. Tombaugh believed that his findings and drawings would be very useful for astronomers and wanted to get his name out to people that could help him continue to discover more and more in the solar system. In 1929, he sent his drawings and findings to the Lowell Observatory in Arizona in hope of being recognized and to continue his aspiration of being an astronomer. His work caught the attention of the people that were working at Lowell and they decided to offer him a job there. His main duty at the Lowell Observatory was to conduct “planet-search photography” and record his findings. While at Lowell, Tombaugh also decided to earn a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Kansas. In just a span of 2 years after getting his BS, he was able to earn a fulltime job at the Lowell Observatory and he also earned a Master’s degree from the University of Kansas as well. As did many other people, Tombaugh had to put a hold to his career while he was required to serve in the army during WWII. After the war ended, he ended up staying in the military and worked specifically on missile research. He made great strides working in the military by creating new tools and instruments. The instrument that had the greatest impact on missile research was IGOR (Intercept Ground Optical Recorder). This “super-camera” went 30 years before changes were made and greatly had a positive effect on missile research. Tombaugh was recognized for