University Library News Release
Date: September 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (505) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
Pluto: Celestial Controversy Touches Library
A good-natured protest march from mid-campus to Zuhl Library on September 1 reaffirmed New Mexico State University’s affection and support for its own Dr. Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930. Pluto was recently reclassified from planet to dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union.
At the program ending the march, the astronomer’s widow, Patricia Tombaugh, was given a replica of Pluto. Library Dean Elizabeth Titus provided background on the Library’s Tombaugh Papers, given by the Tombaugh family in 2001, and Dr. Herbert Beebe of NMSU’s Astronomy Department explored the scientific repercussions of the reclassification and emphasized the research value of the letters in the Tombaugh Papers in understanding Tombaugh’s career.
Pluto’s reclassification has drawn substantial media attention, much of it focused on Tombaugh’s home base of Las Cruces. Patricia Tombaugh was interviewed by the international media, as was Dr. Jim Murphy, the head of NMSU’s Astronomy Department. Also frequently interviewed on the celestial controversy was Steve Hussman, the head of the Library’s Archives & Special Collections Department in Branson Library, where the Tombaugh Papers are housed.
Several Library staff members participated in the march. Gary Mayhood, a Library faculty member and music subject specialist, noted that Pluto is celebrated in the arts as well as the sciences. Pluto was not included in the orchestral suite The Planets by Gustav Holst simply because the composition was written from 1914 to 1916, before Pluto was discovered.
The omission was remedied when Colin Matthews wrote a new movement honoring Pluto. Dedicated to Holst’s daughter, the work was first performed in 2000.
Astronomers worldwide have joined to protest the reclassification. Said Dr. Bernard McNamara, also of NMSU’s Astronomy Department, “The debate is not over.” Stay tuned.
-30-