[Ads-l] Very Slight Antedating of "Pluto" (Former Planet)

[Amy West]

On 1/2/25 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Wed, 1 Jan 2025 13:15:19 +0000
> From:    "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Very Slight Antedating of "Pluto" (Former Planet)
>
> Pluto (OED 1930 [26 Mar.])
>
> [1930 Charlotte Observer 19 Mar. 3/1 (Newspapers.com)  A young stenographer ... suggested, however, that as far as he had been able to learn there was no heavenly body named Pluto.]
>
> 1930 Wilmington Morning News 20 Mar. 1/5 (Newspapers.com)  Professor Fred D. Aldrich, astronomer at Worchester academy today suggested the name Pluto for the ninth planet.
>
> Fred Shapiro


Whaaaaa?!

We have the Aldrich Astronomical Society in the Central MA area. Now I 
know why it has that name.

 From the Aldrich Astronomical Society's mission info on their Guidestar 
page:
Background: Founded in 1932, the Society was named in honor of the late 
Professor Fred Davis Aldrich of Worcester Academy in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, who was a teacher and noted astronomy lecturer in the 
Worcester area with ties to the Ecotarium. His public outreach efforts 
often attracted large audiences and he was regarded as a very 
inspirational and beloved teacher at Worcester Academy.
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/04-3551723

He's listed in Worcester Academy's Hall of Fame:
1979   Fred D. Aldrich 1891
https://www.worcesteracademy.org/recognition-awards

The story told on the Pluto Wikipedia page ties the name suggestion to a 
cable sent to the Lowell Observatory from Herbert Hall Turner on March 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto

I find this Really Interesting simply because I'm the daughter of an 
astronomer and I live in Worcester (did not grow up here) and we talk 
about Robert Goddard here all the time re: space stuff. But not Fred 
Aldrich. I'll note that the planet naming happened half a year before my 
dad was born.

So, yeah, (for me it's a) very interesting ascription.

---Amy West


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