Person who give the name Pluto:Douglas Phair

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Name: Venetia Katharine Douglas Phair

Birth:  11 Jul 1918

Place:  Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

 

 Today is the anniversary of the birth of Venetia Katharine Douglas Phair, née Burney. An accountant and teacher by profession,

 she is known for suggesting the name Pluto for the planet discovered by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. After reading about the discovery in The Times she suggested the name Pluto, after the Roman God of the Underworld. The suggestion was sent to Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory who approved it, the new name being adopted for the planet in May 1930. 

The asteroid 6235 Burney, discovered in November 1987, is named in her honour, as is the 296 km diameter crater Burney on Pluto, identified from data returned by the New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby of the planet in July 2015.

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