How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of adding one more planet to our solar...
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The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of adding one more planet to our solar system, Brown’s find ignited a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about.A heartfelt and personal journey filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever imagined exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?
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Format: ebook
ISBN:
9780385531092 (0385531095)
ASIN: 9780385531092
Publish date: 07-12-2010
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Edition language: English
Amusing. Normally I don't like it when authors bring personal stories into their work, and I was critical of this at the beginning, but Mike Brown did literally make me laugh out loud [kitty litter in washing machine], so...Plus there were some details about the back story of the discovery-scooping...
Even if Pluto is was your favorite planet (after all, it was named after a cartoon dog!) you will be charmed by this account of a scientists' life and work. From this writing Mike Brown obviously has communication skills which I'm sure makes him a popular instructor and lecturer at Caltech. This ...
This book is precisely what I was looking for in a book about Pluto. It contains all the depth of information that The Pluto Files was missing but still had a narrative voice I enjoyed even more than either of the other books. From the story of the narrator's experiences trying to write papers wh...
Have you every wondered how Pluto got kicked out of the Planetary Club? Mike Brown shares the story of how his discovery of other objects in the further reaches of the solar system got Pluto demoted.Overall, I enjoyed this story. Dr. Brown is obviously a scientist, and his memoir has that little b...