Pluto is the only planet discovered by an American, a dead White male, at that. If Pluto had been discovered by an female Mayan peasant, his status in the planetary canon would be secure.
Bingo! Tombaugh's planetary discovery was an intentional accident. He took on the job of finding the reason for Neptune's residuals, systematically searched for it, and found Pluto, which wasn't the cause. Tombaugh told his boss, "I found it," then continued his search for planets. But anyway, a link to the new topic...
Pluto's Brave New Worlds
(Astronomers' Org. Proposal: There Are Now At Least 12 Planets)
Washington Post | 8/16/2006 | Dava Sobel
Posted on 08/15/2006 11:40:00 PM EDT by Pyro7480
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684457/posts