Clyde William Tombaugh (1906 - 1997)

Born 4 Feb 1906 in Streator, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Died 17 Jan 1997 at age 90 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States

Biography

Clyde Tombaugh is Notable.

Clyde William Tombaugh was an American astronomer and the discoverer of Pluto in 1930. He also discovered an object in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids. He repeatedly asked for serious research of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

Tombaugh was the son of Muron Dealvo Tombaugh, a farmer, and his wife Adella Pearl Chritton.

On 29 Apr 1910 at the time of the 1910 US Census, head of household Muron D. Tombaugh (age 29, born in IL) was employed as a Farmer and living on a farm he rented in Reading, Illinois with his wife Adella P. Tombaugh (age 25, born in IL), their son Clyde W. Tombaugh (age 4, born in IL), daughter Ester Tombaugh (age 1, born in IL), and father Jacob L. Tombaugh (age 70, born in PA). Muron and Adella had been married for 8 years; Adella had given birth to five children, five of whom were alive at that time. Muron's father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother in New York; Adella's father was born in Indiana and her mother in Illinois.^[1]

On 20 Jan 1920 at the time of the 1920 US Census, Clyde W. Tombaugh (13) was living with his father Muron (39; head of household) and mother Adella (35) on a rented farm in Farm Ridge Township, La Salle, Illinois along with his sister Esther J. (11) and brothers Roy W. (7) and Charles F. (5).^[2]

Although the homemade telescopes and observations Clyde made in Kansas launched his career in astronomy, the first two sentences on the historic marker in Burdett, KS are misleading: It refers to Burdett as his "boyhood home" and states that Clyde "grew up on a farm northwest of here". But Clyde's family did not move to Kansas until 1922,^[3] when he was already 16 years old (having finished two years at Streator High School in Streator, IL^[4]).

The 1925 Kansas State Census shows that at 19, Clyde and his family were living on a rented farm in Ottawa County, Kansas by March 1st, 1925.^[5]

On 20 Apr 1940 at the time of the 1940 US Census, head of household Clyde W. Tombaugh (age 34, born in IL) was employed as an Assistant Astronomer at Lowell Observatory and living in a home he rented for $25 at 368 Observatory Hill in Flagstaff, Arizona with his wife Patricia Tombaugh (age 27, born in MO). ^[6]

Minor planets discovered by Tombaugh^[7]:

Discovery - Designation

05 Oct 1929 - 2839 Annette

05 Oct 1929 - 3824 Brendalee

05 Oct 1929 - 3583 Burdett

11 Oct 1929 - 7150 McKellar

03 Nov 1929 - 5701 Baltuck

23 Jan 1930 - 134340 Pluto

17 Oct 1930 - 7101 Haritina

13 Dec 1930 - 4510 Shawna

24 Dec 1930 - 2941 Alden

16 Mar 1931 - 3754 Kathleen

06 Oct 1931 - 3775 Ellenbeth

06 Oct 1931 - 4755 Nicky

09 Oct 1931 - 3310 Patsy

10 Oct 1931 - (8778) 1931 TD₃

16 Sep 1936 - 6618 Jimsimons (1936 SO)

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK6Q-2BY : accessed 28 September 2018), Clyde W Tombaugh in household of Muron D Tombaugh, Reading, Livingston, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 43, sheet 9B, family 221, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 303; FHL microfilm 1,374,316.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJ4J-7D9 : accessed 25 November 2020), Clyde W Tombaugh in household of Muron Tombaugh, Farm Ridge, La Salle, Illinois, United States; citing ED 107, sheet 10A, line 27, family 230, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 377; FHL microfilm 1,820,377.
3. ↑ Kansas Historical Society: https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/clyde-tombaugh/12222
4. ↑ "Clyde had only finished two years at Streator High School before the family moved to a wheat farm near Burdett, Kansas..." in 10 Jul 2015 article of The Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown, "NASA's rocket nears Pluto, carrying ashes of Illinois-born discoverer" by Donna Vickroy: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/ct-sta-pluto-flyby-st-0712-20150710-story.html
5. ↑ "Kansas State Census, 1925", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGJ5-GJDV : 14 October 2019), Clyde Tombaugh in entry for Muron Tombaugh.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYW2-65J : 14 March 2018), Clyde W Tombaugh, Flagstaff, Supervisorial District 1, Coconino, Arizona, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 3-2A, sheet 14A, line 6, family 368, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 101.
7. ↑ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh#Asteroids_discovered

• Find A Grave, database and images [[1]]: accessed 19 August 2018, memorial page for Clyde William Tombaugh (4 Feb 1906–17 Jan 1997), Find A Grave: Memorial #5956121; which states of his burial: "Cremated, Other, Specifically: Portion of his ashes are on the NASA New Horizons space probe that has passed several of the planets and will eventually leave our solar system."

• 1910 Federal Census [[2]]

• 1930 Federal Census [[3]]

• 1940 Federal Census (adds a wife) [[4]]

See also

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh

Wikidata: Item Q190232, en:Wikipedia

Clyde Tombaugh, by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica [[5]]

International Space Hall of Fame [[6]]

Famous Scientists [[7]]

Academy of Achievement: https://achievement.org/achiever/clyde-tombaugh/