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Girl Who Named Pluto, At 11, Dies At 90
notthepainter notes the passing of the woman who, as an 11-year-old girl, named Pluto. "Frozen and lonely, Planet X circled the far reaches of the solar system awaiting discovery and a name. It got one thanks to an 11-year-old British girl named Venetia Burney, an enthusiast of the planets and classical myth. On March 14, 1930, the day newspapers reported that the long-suspected 'trans-Neptunian body' had been photographed for the first time, she proposed to her well-connected grandfather that it be named Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. Venetia Phair, as she became by marriage, died April 30 in her home in Banstead, in the county of Surrey, England. She was 90. ... More vexing to Mrs. Phair was the persistent notion that she had taken the name from the Disney character. 'It has now been satisfactorily proven that the dog was named after the planet, rather than the other way around,' she told the BBC. 'So, one is vindicated.' " Venetia's great-uncle Henry, who was a housemaster at Eton, had successfully proposed that the two dwarf moons of Mars be named Phobos and Deimos.
How is this even a story? Maybe if she had named a REAL planet...
Ripping off public domain folk tales was not enough. They had to go after the planets, too.
We'll forever remember your contribution(s) to the scientific community.
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
If you knew your history or had read the article linked in the header, you would.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/sciencemath/8964/zoom/
Rock on, Venetia, rock on.
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
Now THAT is a nerd's nerd. At the age of eleven, names a planet after a Roman god. I can just picture it now. "Grandfather, I rather think that naming it aaaafter the god Pluto might be the most appropriate course." Maybe I've seen too many Fruit Newton commercials, though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
TFA quotes Neil deGrasse Tyson saying "Pluto is the god of the underworld, a distant place you don't want to go to," and Capt. Freeman saying "Pluto is the prototype of Satan in many minds..."
The Greek underworld is more akin to the entire Christian afterlife. Sure, it had Hell-like Tartarus, but it also had the Heaven-like Elysian Fields (in French: Champs-Elysees), and plenty of places between.
And Pluto/Hades was certainly no Satan! In at least one myth, the brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots to see who would rule the air, sea, and underworld. Zeus drew first and chose air. Poseidon was thrilled, because he wanted the sea anyway. And poor Hades was stuck with the underworld.
Also from TFA, "...scientists at the Lowell Observatory voted unanimously for Pluto, partly because its first two letters could be interpreted as an homage to Percival Lowell..." Very cool.
What I find baffling is that Goofy is a dog, and Pluto is a dog. But Goofy wears clothes, drives, and talks - and Pluto just runs around, barks and wags his tail.
It's just... not right.
Plutonic?
Astrological etymologies:
Mercurial - unpredictable temperment
Venereal - sexually indulgent
Lunatic - crazy
Martial - war-like
Saturnine - gloomy
Jovial - happy
But "nepotism" is from nephew, not Neptune. And "platonic" is from Plato, not Pluto.
Pluto is a dog's dog. Goofy is a dog trying to be a man.
If I ran around sniffing crotches and licking my goods, I'd...never get out of the house. What was my point again?
Don't they mean Planet IX?
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
Pluto is a dog's dog. Goofy is a dog trying to be a man.
Actually, Pluto is a mouses dog.
What I find baffling is that Goofy is a dog, and Pluto is a dog. But Goofy wears clothes, drives, and talks - and Pluto just runs around, barks and wags his tail.
You know, that's not very far out there when you are talking about this group. Years ago when Minnie started acting strange, many thought she had had a psychotic break, some said that she was just plain crazy... In the end, it turned out she was just fu*king Goofy...
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Should we respect Goofy's aspiration to transcend his origins and disapprove of Pluto's ignomy, or should we reject Goofy as a social-climbing pretender and admire Pluto's authenticity?
So where's the C&D letter against Disney for using the name she coined for a planet?
Surely it causes consumer confusion.. I mean, when I see titles like The Complete Pluto, Volume One; I expect a DVD authorized by the foundation or scientists who discovered the planet, and it to be about the planet.
But instead the proper trade name as assigned the Pluto brand planet is used with a piece of fiction in a manner that is not only confusing but dilutes the mark...
we are tackling the big issues here today aren't we?
This seemed like a reasonable sig at the time.
Neither Neptune nor Pluto are ever bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. In optimal conditions and near its opposition with Earth, Uranus can be visible to someone with excellent eyesight.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
or a couple of mirrors. Oh wait, your anus? That's visible to most anyone, mister playboy. :)
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
When I was your age, Pluto was Planet X!
-Venetia Phair
Neptune was not discovered via direct observation. It was discovered by abnormalities in Uranus' orbit.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I think it's clear to any REAL dog that Goofy is nothing but an uppity Uncle Rover, sitting and rolling over for the massah to get a handout.
--Obyron
correlation does not imply causation, this is no proof that naming planets causes death. (Come on, someone had to say that, this is /.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
It should be noted that the IAUâ(TM)s controversial demotion of Pluto is very likely not the last word on the subject and in fact represents only one interpretation in an ongoing debate. Only four percent of the IAU voted on this, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASAâ(TM)s New Horizons mission to Pluto. Stern and like-minded scientists favor a broader planet definition that includes any non-self-luminous spheroidal body in orbit around a star. The spherical part is important because objects become spherical when they attain a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning they are large enough for their own gravity to pull them into a round shape. This is a characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects. Pluto meets this criterion and is therefore a planet.
Wait... so Pluto was called "Planet X" before it had a name, and it's no longer officially a planet?
So that means it used to be Planet X, but now it's an ex-planet!
My wife [a senior nurse] came home from work one day about 4 years ago saying that she and her staff had been looking after an old lady on a ward at Epsom General Hospital. One of the surgeons pointed her out and said she was rather special since had named the planet Pluto. Apparently the old lady was very pleasant and polite but hadn't told anyone of her claim to fame.
Not really believing this story I googled a bit and found a name. My wife refused to tell me the name of the woman but when I said 'Venetia Phair' she was very surprised as she thought the whole thing was a massive wind-up.