On this day in Alabama history: ‘Pluto Killer’ was born in Huntsville
Huntsville native Mike Brown (1965- ) is a California Institute of Technology astronomer whose work toward discovering distant objects in our solar system led to the de-classification of Pluto as a planet in 2006, earning him the nickname "Pluto killer.” (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of California Institute of Technology)
June 5, 1965
Planetary astronomer Michael E. Brown was born in Huntsville. Brown is the author of more than 115 scientific publications and is renowned for discovering many large, significant objects in the Solar System, including the dwarf planet Eris and the planetoid Sedna. He is best known, however, as the “Pluto killer,” after his discoveries of large distant objects directly led to the demotion of Pluto from planet status. Brown published his best-selling book, “How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming,” in 2010. He is the recipient of several major honors for his work, including the Presidential Early Career Award from the National Science Foundation and the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Astronomer Mike Brown poses before a museum display at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of NASA)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
